Mega Man Chronicles
by Shurikens Miner
Summary: Planet XC-1 has been found by Star Man, rich in minerals. It has odd structures on it, almost humanoid titans. Mining Robot Top Man has been sent to the planet to extract minerals, but he has lost connection with Dr Light. Mega Man has been sent to find him, but he's about to find something much more sinister... [Rated T for Xenoblade Chronicles being Xenoblade Chronicles.]
1. Chapter 1: Arrival On Bionis

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: References for the characters will be a link at the end of this chapter. Have fun reading Mega Man Chronicles!_

 _Outside Colony 9 - ?_

On Bionis' lower right calf, everything seems calm. A few Krabble scrounge for shells, and Bunnits roam the fields outside Colony 9. All seems quiet and peaceful. Then, in a flash of blue light, a humanoid figure appears, clad in blue armor. He looks around, taking in the view, with a perplexed look on his face. "Dr Light, are you sure this is where he went?" He asks, putting his finger to his ear. "It doesn't look anything like where he'd be."

"Yes, I'm sure, Mega Man. This is where I tracked his energy signature. Don't you remember last time you fought Top Man?" Dr Light responds, his voice crackling through the earpiece. "It was nearly identical to this area."

"True. Why _did_ he go for that place, anyway?" He asked himself the same question last time, too. The grassy field brings back memories of his earlier adventures. "No matter. Where to, Doctor?"

"Last I saw him, he was due south from your location. Be careful, Mega Man, you may be facing opposition. I'm uploading weapon data to your Mega Buster now, specifically Hard Knuckle. You'll certainly need it if Top Man has been reprogrammed once again."

"Understood. I'm on it, Doctor!" He nods, and signs off for now. He checks his weaponry. The Mega Buster, a powerful solar pellet with the ability to charge up for a more powerful shot; and Hard Knuckle, launching his fist forward, with the ability to break walls down. He heads south, but detects something. ".. Is that… smoke?"

 _Mag Mell Ruins - ?_

Three humans stand over the defeated bodies of Ancient Machines in the Mag Mell Ruins. A blond haired boy immediately turns to a girl. "Fiora, are you OK?" He asks, a worrying tone in his voice. "I'm fine, how about you?" She replies.

"I'm alright, thanks to you and Reyn." He nods, giving a small gesture to the musclebound man beside them. Reyn looks over the machines. "What on Bionis were those?! I've never seen anything like 'em!"  
"Could they have been Mechon?" Fiora thinks of this for a moment, before the blond haired one shoots down that idea. "No. I think they were left by the civilization who built this vehicle."

"They didn't seem like any Mechon to me. But why would they only show up now, Shulk?" Reyn takes a look at the disabled mechanical bodies.

"I don't know. They may have been made to protect this place, and they might have been activated in response to something. But I don't think that something could have been us." Shulk replies.

"Can we get out of here? I don't want to stay here any longer." Fiora asks the others.

"Me neither, and we've already got the Ether Crystals. Let's go."

A siren goes off. Reyn looks to its direction outside. "What's going on!?"

The group run out. Shulk spots something flying overhead. "Look! In the sky!"

That one thing was followed by many things, all of a similar black color. "No way…" Reyn can't believe his eyes, but Shulk knows what this means. "Mechon!"

 _Colony 9 - Rock_

Mega Man ran down the hilltop to find a small town on the water smoking, and a large black robot attacking the local humans, who don't seem to be faring as well as they could be. As soon as he sees this, his programming takes over, and he attempts to fight them. But first, he has to get their attention. He throws a rock at the robot. Sure enough, he turns around to face the blue one. Normally, Rock would try diplomacy, but the larger robot's claws have already been stained with blood. But now he's off the humans, and Mega Man can get to work. He fires several solar pellets at the large robot, but they all bounce off without doing anything. (What..?) He tries again, with the same effect. "A bit stronger, then. Alright! HARD KNUCKLE!" Mega Man changes to a darker blue, and fires his fist at the large robot. But it hardly even dents it. (This is not good!) He turns his earpiece on once again. "Doctor! I need another weapon! Could you get me Gemini Laser please?!" Without any reply, Gemini Laser is uploaded into his arsenal. "Thank you! Mega Man out!" Turning white and light blue, he fires the piercing laser at his foe. But it too hardly damages them. "This is not good…" He goes to ask for another weapon, but before he can, his foe strikes with enormous claws. He braces for impact, but it never comes. He looks at the scene, and a man, maybe in his late 20s, has blocked the attack, although he seems to be in great pain. "What are you waiting for!? Get going! I'll hold it off!" Mega Man, though, is having none of that. "You're injured, you shouldn't be out fighting! You need to find shelter! I'll take care of this!"

"I will not run away while a fellow Homs is slaughtered by Mechon!"

"My scan shows that your right arm is almost completely paralyzed, you shouldn't be fighting right now!"

While the two argue over this, the Mechon strikes again. Mega Man pushes the human out of the way, saving the both of them. "Get going! I'll handle this!"

"I'm not leaving!" The human shakes his head.

"My programming says not to let a human come into harm, I am not straying from that again!"

Before the human can argue, Mega Man picks him up, and gets him to safety. "Wait here. I'll get a doctor for you! If any of the rogue robots come close, do not engage! Find a safe spot, I'll come back for you." He leaves him in what seems to be a safe spot, but the human refuses to stand by. Bringing his sword out - An exotic looking blade, red all the way through, with streams of blue running through - he seeks out more of these "Mechon," slaughtering any he sees. Mega Man is unable to find a doctor, so he goes back to where he put the human, only to find out they weren't there. "He's going to get himself killed!"

 _Colony 9 - Shulk_

A Mechon attacks Reyn, and he's barely able to stop its pincers. Shulk runs up to help, but Reyn tries to get him to leave. "Get outta here, Shulk!" He cries as Shulk strikes futilely against the Mechon's outer shell. "Don't be stupid!" he replies. More Mechon start to arrive, but just then, the two hear someone else coming, and a man in his late twenties rushes in with an intricate red sword, slashing at Mechon as he comes, and sending the Mechon attacking Reyn hurtling through the air. His entrance is followed by a string of explosions

rippling through all the Mechon at the plaza that he has just slashed. "The Monado!" Shulk exclaims. The man is breathing hard but still standing. He turns to the other two. "Sorry I kept you waiting."

"Dunban!" Shulk is more than happy to see the hero of Bionis right now.

"Whoa yeah!" Reyn seems overjoyed to see him as well. "The Monado! So this is why you weren't at home. I thought so! This is what I was waiting to see!" More Mechon approach the three friends, but with the Monado, the three make quick work of these.

"Nice one, Dunban!" Reyn compliments. "You didn't waste any time on them Mechon!"

Dunban, however, is preoccupied. "Shulk! Where's Fiora?!"

"The Residential District…" he replies. "We said we'd meet her there." Reyn turns towards the fallen pillar now blocking the bridge to the Residential District and sighs."Looks like we'll have to take the long way round."

Shortly, as Shulk, Reyn and Dunban exit the Commercial District, Dunban collapses in agony, and the Monado skitters along the bridge and deactivates. The other two hurry over to him.

"Dunban!" Reyn exclaims. "You can't take any more of the Monado!"

"But I must! I don't have a choice!"

Dunban stretches out his hand to reach for the sword but instead coughs up blood on the ground.

"Reyn's right, you can't go on like this." Shulk sees Mechon approaching from across the bridge, and he rushes for the Monado. Shulk picks up the weapon and activates it.

"This time... It's my turn."

"Shulk, no! It'll kill you!"

Shulk at first struggles with the Monado, but then seems to master himself and charges at the enemy, screaming. All of a sudden, he starts to see… something.

One Mechon sends an energy blast that knocks Shulk backwards. But when he looks again, it hasn't happened yet, so Shulk dodges the attack with ease.

The attack then strikes a wall behind Reyn and Dunban, causing a massive explosion in the background. Shulk proceeds to destroy that Mechon. As another

Mechon attacks, Shulk sees its movements in the future and deftly evades them, soon cutting the Mechon down.

"How can this be? Shulk is using the Monado." Dunban is almost too shocked to notice the Mechon advancing towards Shulk, but he does end up beating it off. "Shulk, do you feel all right?" He knows all too well the potential side effects of wielding the Monado.

"I'm OK," he replies. "But there was something strange. Just now, it was as if I could see into the future. Is this another power of the Monado?"

"I see. I remember Dickson saying that the Monado had a hidden power. Could this be it?"

"Guys, more incoming!" Reyn calls out.

"Don't think about it now! Just believe what the Monado showed you and fight!"

"Got it!"

The party fight off this latest wave of Mechon as they emerge from the bridge.

They then rush into the Residential District. As they arrive, however, a black Mechon with a metal face becomes an obstacle in their path.

"It's massive." Reyn is kind of awestruck at their foe.

"That Mechon… It has a face?!" Despite seemingly wiping out the Mechon at the Battle of Sword Valley, he had never seen this before.

"That don't mean nothin'! Not when we have the Monado!"

The three engage the Mechon in battle. But none of their weapons prove effective.

"Shulk! Reyn! Get down!" Dunban calls out as he pulls the other two away just before Metal Face's claws strike the ground where they had been. "Stay back! I'll take it from here!"

"No!" Reyn tries to stop him. "You can't take any more!"

But Dunban has taken off, and Reyn goes after him. Metal Face simply knocks them both back with its clawed hand. The Mechon then comes over and does the same to Shulk. Metal Face is about to go in for the kill when, out of nowhere, the Mechon is hit with a heavy blast that practically knocks it to the ground. It is soon shown that the attack has come from a mobile artillery - piloted by Fiora.

"Everyone. Get away, right now!"

"Fiora!"

Fiora's artillery tears through Mechon as she approaches Metal Face. As she charges ahead, Shulk's eyes glow blue as a vision comes to him: An attack from Metal Face blasts Fiora's artillery into pieces, crippling the vehicle. While Fiora is trapped inside, Metal Face comes over and stabs her with its claws. Back in the present, Shulk is still on the ground and coming to grips with what he's just been shown.

"What did I just...Fiora! Get back!" He cries, but Fiora's vehicle continues to advance.

"I won't let you hurt any more people! We will save Colony 9!" She doesn't hear a word he says, too preoccupied with her target.

"Fiora! Get out of here! Run!"

She shoves the foremost cannon right in the Mechon's face, covering it. With a grunt of concentration, she lets loose a tremendous blast that blows her artillery and Metal Face backwards. Her artillery falls on its side, now inoperable. Fiora then sees Metal Face emerge from the smoke, unharmed except for some superficial damage to its faceplate. It marches towards her. Metal Face then lifts the artillery so that it is eye to eye with Fiora; she whimpers, losing hope. The Mechon then slams the mobile artillery against a nearby house, smashing the vehicle into pieces as Fiora cries out in fear.

"Fiora!"

 _Colony 9 - Residential District - Rock_

A human girl's body falls from the battle unit, her blood drenched on Metal Face's claws. Mega Man is horrified by this. (This is even worse than I thought!) "You three! Get out of here, you're going to get yourselves killed!" He shouts to the three remaining humans. He checks his arsenal one last time, and finds Dr Light has given him another set of weapons: Needle Cannon, and Charge Kick. (Now we're talking!) He switches to Needle Cannon, changing to a brown and white color. He fires four needles. (Why did Dr Light not outfit me with the ability to rapid fire normally, anyway?) Some of the needles actually do pierce the metal, but it's nothing to write home about. It at most does one damage to the foe. He sighs, and changes to Charge Kick.

"Guess you don't have Trypanophobia, huh? No matter. CHARGE KICK!" He slides into the foe, and this actually does something: It causes Metal Face to fall over. "Huh, that actually worked." He does it again, though it still doesn't do much, it does _something._ (Gotta make sure I have enough weapon energy for this.) Meanwhile, the three humans take this opportunity to strike as well, but after a while, the Mechon flies away, leaving a blond haired boy cursing at it. Mega Man switches back to his Mega Buster now that the town is out of harm's way. "Come on, let's get him to a doctor." He gestures to the man, the same man from before. "He's obviously not well. I thought I told you to stay put." He goes to help the injured human, though damage sustained from the battle cause a few sparks to fly off. The blond haired one sees this, and his sword gains a blue blade, cutting Mega Man off from the man. "You stay back!" His tone is bitter, like a red citrus. "Reyn, get Dunban back to his house, I'll handle this." "On it." Reyn nods, helping Dunban back to his home, leaving the blond one and Mega Man on the bridge. Mega Man sees that the boy is not going to listen to reason, so he contacts Dr Light over this. "Two things, doctor! One, we finally found extraterrestrial life. Two, they're angry at me!"

He struggles to think of something to keep himself away from the attacker. "Wait! I got it! Rush! here, boy!" A red beam shines down, and a robotic dog appears. "Jet, okay?" Rush gives a bark, and lies down, turning into a sort of hoverboard. Mega Man gets on, and takes off for the cliffs above them. "Dr Light, I think I may be here a bit longer than expected. Either Top Man has a new set of forces, or there's another Stardroid force. I'll need to take care of them before I get back."

 _Colony 9 - Shulk_

Reyn, after assuring that Dunban would be alright, went back to the bridge. "Shulk, you alright?!"

"I'm fine, Reyn. That blue Mechon didn't even try to fight, it just… ran away." He thinks about this for a while.

"The coward! We'll make it pay for what happened to Fiora."

Shulk simply nods. "Yes, we will. Let's get going, then."

The two Homs leave, leaving Dunban back in the colony, looking through the window. "Don't worry, boys. I'll get better. And when I do, I'll be right there."

 _Ether Mine - ?_

Doctors Light and Wily number 021, also known as Top Man, dashes through a cave, past a force of Metall. "Alright, guys, how's the mining going?" One of the Mets pops up from a small hole, bringing a horde of lithium up with it. "Great job!" He smiles to the Met. He tries his communications. "Doctor Light? You there?" No response. "Doctor Light, come in Doctor Light." Still nothing. "Huh. Odd." There's a noise from the entrance of the cave. "You guys keep working, I'll check that." He skates across the cave floor, to the exit. "Can I h- Oh, you look strange." A rather odd looking robot, with tentacles all around, stands there. "We don't need any more miners, you can go away now."

The robot still stands there, making no noise.

"Look, we're already heavily staffed, we don't need anyone else."

Now, the robot strikes, but Top Man dodges the attack. "Missed me!" He gets out of the cave, making sure his miners are safe before facing the robot. "Tell me this, my tentacled friend. Can you dance?"

 _End of Chapter_

 _Author's Note: Well, that was fun! I hope this was a fun run, and don't worry! We'll be seeing the WHOLE set of Xenoblade Chronicles before the end of the story. And as promised, here's the reference sheet!_

 _presentation/d/1gqOUFRse2NQuKp7jifOPFRaMsm937r0o0l7iXTmIqw4/edit#slide=id.g295cac25eb_0_66_

 _All the pictures you need!_


	2. Chapter 2: Trek Through Tephra Cave

_Outside Tephra Cave - Rock_

Mega Man flies to the exit of a cave to get some thinking done on how to make sure that blond haired boy wouldn't fight him next time they met up. "I could go to him in my civilian clothes, or maybe help him fight off one of those rogue robots. What did he call them? Mechon?" He thinks on what to do next, and decides to try the first option. Better to not get into any more fights, what with the damage he sustained from the fight. "Rush, I need you to help me get down there again, okay?"

"Roof!" He transforms into a jet once again, and Mega Man gets into a set of civilian clothes from home. "This should work."

He flies down to the field he arrived in, just before the two humans come near. Rush beams out, and Mega Man, now Rock, is alone for about 10 minutes before the two arrive at the field. The muscular one - Reyn, he thinks the name was - is telling the blond one that the fastest way to Colony 6 is through a place called Tephra Cave. Then the blond one stops, seeing Rock. "You alright over there?" He calls out.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. What's going on, I saw smoke from the town." He tries to sound like he has no idea what happened.

"The Mechon came back. Most of the townspeople died in the attack." Reyn replies. "The defence force couldn't do a thing about it, Shulk and Dunban had to fight them off with the Monado, but it didn't stop all of them."

"The Monado?"

"This." Shulk holds up his sword. "It's the only weapon able to kill Mechon. But it couldn't hurt this one… It's strange. It should have been able to kill it, but it didn't do anything against one of them."

"The big one that was just flying overhead? Didn't look too tough."

"You don't know how strong it was… It killed Fiora. Ripped right through one of the mobile artillery units. It was a horrifying sight." Shulk sighs. "And then they all left, like they only wanted to kill her specifically. Except one. It didn't even try to fight back, it just ran off."

Rock thinks about this for a while. (How to handle this…) "Maybe you could use a little help finding it?"

"You'd do that?"

"Of course I would. I help people, it's what I do." (Plus, that robot needs to be disabled. Permanently.)

Shulk thinks it over, but eventually accepts. "We're heading to Colony 6."

"Got it. I'm ready to go!"

"Alright! Name's Reyn. Yours?" Reyn offers a hand, which Mega Man accepts.

"Rock Light, pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you. I'm Shulk."

 _Light Labs - Dr Light_

Dr Light steps away from the intercom. "Roll, could you get me a full cup, please?"

A young looking girl nods. "Yes sir, Dr Light! How's Rock doing?"

"He's encountered some locals. They tried to kill him."

"Already? This isn't good." She looks rather scared for the guy.

"Don't worry, Roll. He's gotten out of there. But apparently, the Stardroids are invading this planet as well."

"Wait, didn't he already defeat their leader?" Roll thinks back to the first day of Earth's invasion.

 _Rock and Roll had been walking through a field, when a rather oddly dressed robot teleported in front of the two. "Ah, so you are Mega Man." They said. "I am Terra. And you will soon be my slave!"_

 _Rock had Roll go back to the lab, and his armor, following the programming for a fight, formed around him. He shot a few pellets at Terra, but they bounced off. Same for the charge shot. Terra easily defeated him, but Dr Light got him out of there before the final blow could be struck. He upgraded Mega Man's charge shot to the powerful Mega Arm, and he went on to defeat the Stardroids' eight generals, and Terra himself. Only then did Terra reveal that Dr. Wily had taken them over, and planned to awake Sunstar, the Stardroids' ultimate weapon. Mega Man fought through Wily's space station, and defeated Sunstar, who's explosion destroyed the entire station. Dr Wily, once again, had bowed in surrender._

But that was years ago. Wily had once again escaped justice, but hasn't attacked since the Roboenza outbreak, giving Dr Light enough time to reinstall the Charge and Slide functions into Mega Man's system.

"He did, but who knows? Maybe they had another general."

"Or maybe it's the Kuiper Droids again!" A green, much less human like robot calls from the back.

"That's not possible, Auto," Dr Light shoots down this idea. "That would imply the return of Ra Moon, but he was destroyed in the Lanfront Ruins." Roll brings back the coffee he wanted.

"Hey, you never know."

 _Tephra Cave - The Trio_

The trio of "humans" reach the mouth of Tephra Cave. Rock heads inside already, but Reyn and Shulk make sure they have everything before following. "So, what exactly _is_ this place?" Rock looks around the cave walls.

"It's Tephra Cave, the only way to Colony 6 from here. The defence force there is leagues ahead of ours," Shulk explains. Reyn seems to take offence from this, but Shulk simply says "You guys crashed a mobile artillery unit into the residential district. They're a lot better."

"You did what?" Rock finds this disturbing. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Nah, everyone was out at the time," Reyn assures, much to Rock's relief. They continue wordlessly, before finding two human bodies.

"What happened to them..?" Shulk questions as Rock crouches down to inspect the bodies.

"There's webbing on the bodies, bites, and they look drained of blood." He informs. "Apparently there's some sort of large variation of spider in these caves."

"Those'd be the Arachnos." Reyn shudders at this. "Creepy little things."

"Rock, Reyn, should we return them?"

"What? Oh right, what's born from the Bionis is returned to the Bionis."

 _Tephra Cave - Shulk_

After the human bodies are brought to a small lake, The three make camp. "I'll take watch." Rock says, letting the other two find spots to sleep. All is going well, when Shulk's eyes start glowing. Rock, ever the inquisitive one, goes to see what's up. "You alright, Shulk?" He asks, but he gets no response. Not for a few minutes, anyway, once his eyes return to their natural brightness. "What is it?" He replies.

"Is anything wrong? You didn't respond to me for a bit."

"... No, nothing's wrong. Rock." Shulk replies. "Just… a headache."

"That didn't seem like a headache."

"It's nothing, Rock, I'm fine."

 _Reyn stands in the middle of a large spider web, Scrap Driver at the ready. He's fighting off a horde of Arachnos, but a much larger one jumps down on him, killing him._

(Should I tell Reyn about it..?) Shulk inwardly sighs, trying to sleep, but he's wide awake. So he simply gets up. "You get some sleep, Rock. I'm wide awake, I'll take watch."

Rock simply nods, going to his own bedroll to get some sleep.

Shulk thinks of Rock. (He seems familiar, though I can't tell where. But he has some sort of… aura of danger around him.) He sits on this thought until Reyn comes to relieve him. "You get some rest." "It's time already?" He asks.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep a wink."

"That can't be good." Shulk sighs, going to his own bedroll. At this point, he's absolutely exhausted, so he falls asleep immediately.

 _Tephra Cave - Rock_

Rock is awoken by screams.

He gets up from his bedroll to find a horde of Arachnos attacking Shulk and Reyn. They _really_ don't look to be in good condition, even _if_ there's not many. Following his programming, he dons his armor, and gives them a hand. Shulk is a bit busy to notice this, and calls to Reyn. "A chain attack should finish them!"  
"Alright, I've been waiting for this!" He calls back. Mega Man silently nods.

Shulk goes behind the head of the Arachnos, striking with the beam of his sword. "Backslash!" He cries, followed by "Reyn, to you!"

"I know, I know! Sword Drive!" He rams the blade of the Scrap Driver into the Arachno. "Rock, It's your go!"

"Getting into Attack Formation!" He switches to a yellow and navy coloring. (Dr Light gave me another weapon!) "Thunder Bolt!" He fires a ball of electricity at the Arachno, killing it, and giving the group some breathing room, and giving Shulk and Reyn the ability to see Mega Man in his full armor. (Oh… wait. This isn't good.) Mega Man puts his hands up. "Wait, I can explain."

"…" Shulk thinks of this, though Reyn goes to strike. And, just like Mechon Armour, the Scrap Driver bounces right off.

"Shulk, could you help out here?" He asks, though Shulk shoots down this idea. "Wait, let him speak. He _did_ help us fight the Arachnos off."

Reyn sighs, and puts the Driver into its shield forme.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Rock Light, also known as Mega Man. I was sent here by Dr Light to find a friend we've lost communication with here. He's a mining robot. Orange, has a large top on his head, but by the time I got here, I saw smoke on the horizon, so I went there. He's gone rogue before, it would make sense that he was behind it. Instead, I found _that_ thing. My Mega Buster hardly did anything against him. It was so odd… Anyway, after I saw this one man carrying that sword, I got him out of the fight against it."

"You thought Dunban couldn't handle a few Mechon?" Reyn scoffs.

"He couldn't. He was coughing up blood by the time that large one left. You know what happened by then. I mean you no harm, I'm just here to find a friend, and make sure that you two don't get yourselves killed against these things, now that I've seen what you're up against. If these robots are specifically designed to kill humans, I've got a good feeling as to who's behind their sudden invasion."

Shulk shakes his head. "You're saying a Homs is behind this attack? That's impossible. The Mechon kill anyone they see."

"People say that about Robot Masters reprogrammed by Dr Wily, but it all depends on who's in charge. An invasion by robot forces is all too common for me."

"Dr Wily? Who's that?" Shulk inquires, a tone of curiosity in his voice.

"Oh right! He's an evil scientist back home, bent on world domination. Sends out Robot Masters to do his dirty work. He's done it about 17 times now, and every time, I have to stop him."

He tells the two of his first adventure, his fight against his own family, continuing on until he reaches the end of his most recent, and his fight against the Roboenza virus. "In the end, Dr Wily ended up coming down with influenza. I could have just left him there to perish on his own, but the laws of Robotics state I can't let a human come into harm without doing anything, so I brought him to a hospital. He ended up leaving enough antidotes to cure the outbreak entirely as thanks. This isn't even counting the Battle and Chase race, or the one time I had to relive my past adventures."

"You've time traveled?" Reyn exclaims. Shulk seems rather surprised about this as well. "So you're created to act like a Homs? I didn't know that was possible."

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't be here today." Mega Man nods. "After this is done, I could bring you to my world, let you talk to Dr Light about it."

"I don't know. I need to be around to keep the Mechon at bay in case of another attack." He shakes his head, but Reyn is not having any of it. "You're going to go, Shulk. It'd be like a playground for you. We'll take care of the Mechon, then you can take a trip to relax."

Shulk laughs a bit at this. "You're not going to let me say no, are you?"

"Nope." He shakes his head. "Knowing you, you'd be able to teach this Dr Light a thing or two."

Mega Man just smirks at this. "I don't know about _that,_ Dr Light isn't that into weapon development, he makes robots to help humanity. Now, let's get going, I can sense the end of the cave not too far from here."

"Agreed," Shulk replies. "Be careful, there may be more Arachnos around."

 _Tephra Cave - Shulk_

The trio continue until they reach a small dip in the pathway, housing a few large egg sacs. "What on Bionis are those?" Reyn asks, a tone of heavy disgust in his voice.

"Monsters' egg sacs," Shulk says. "But it looks like there's Mechon parts inside as well."

"What monsters are they?"

"Probably some type of… Arachno." Shulk goes quiet for a second, before shouting. "Reyn, get back!"

Reyn has less than a second to react before he's covered in webbing, and dragged upward.

"Reyn! No.. If that vision comes true, then Reyn will… I've got to find him!" Shulk starts running toward a large lake.

"Vision? What are you talking about?!" Mega Man calls out, running after him.

The two keep running, until they find a large lake. "Rock, do you have any way to get us up there?" Shulk inquires, pointing to a ledge high above the two.

"Yes! Rush! Here, boy!"

A red light comes down, and Rush appears before the two. Mega Man smiles. "Jet, Rush. We need up there!"

Without so much of an acceptance, Rush lies down, transforming into Rush Jet. "Alright, we can get on. Brace yourself, he goes pretty fast."

"You have a robotic Dobercorgi!?"

"Long story, just get on!"

Shulk hops onto the board area of Rush Jet, and the dog takes off. Shulk almost loses his balance from the sudden start.

"Get ready to jump, Shulk!" Mega Man calls back to him as Rush reaches their destination. Without giving him time to not hear this, he grabs his shirt collar, and jumps to the ledge. Shulk looks to the right. "Let's go! Reyn went this way!"

Mega Man nods, and the two head over to a webbed antechamber, crawling with Arachnos, and Reyn is right in the middle of them. "I can't handle this!" He calls out to the other two. "I kill one, and ten more pop up!" Knowing he can't hold them off forever, he starts running to a vined wall.

"Reyn, not that way!" Shulk calls out, but it's too late. A massive Arachno drops from the ceiling, ready to strike Reyn. The Monado starts to glow a golden yellow, and Shulk swings out at the battlefield. All of a sudden, Reyn is covered in a translucent yellow shield, and the Arachno Queen's attack hardly does anything to him. "What!?" He mutters, in awe of what just happened. Shulk looks to his blade. "Could it be a new power of the Monado?" He wonders aloud, but he's quickly called by Mega Man. "Let's get this over and done with," He says. Shulk nods. "Reyn, you take care of the little ones. We'll take care of the queen!"

 _Tephra Cave - Arachno Queen Fight - Rock_

The battle is a blur.

Shulk and the Queen trade shot for shot on each other, Mega Man covers for him with his arsenal, Reyn keeps the smaller Arachnos away from the other two. Shulk sends out Monado Shield to Reyn when he's in trouble. But pretty soon, the Arachno Queen turns from Shulk, and starts attacking Mega Man. Knowing how hard the Queen hits, he sends a Shield over to Mega Man. Oddly enough, it has no effect. Nevertheless, Reyn calls out. "A chain attack should finish 'em!" And the three get into position to attack the Queen.

Shulk opens up with Backslash, and Reyn follows up with Sword Drive. "Rock! You're up!" He calls over.

"Understood! Beginning Attack!" He responds. "DOUBLE ROCK BUSTER!" Both of his arms are replaced by Arm Cannons, and he sends out a powerful shot right through the Arachno Queen, killing it instantly.

With the Queen dead, the rest of the Arachno die out as well. Mega Man drops to the ground, breathing heavily. "I… I shouldn't have done that so carelessly…" He says through his panting. Reyn comes to his aid. "Man, that was amazing! How'd you do that?"

"I… put most of my energy… into my Mega Busters…" He replies, exhausted. "It… Drains me, though… Can't use it often… I'll… Be right back…" He teleports out of the cave, and into Dr Light's Lab. "I'm home…!" As soon as he gets those words out, he collapses.

Dr Light gets to work immediately, with Roll and Auto helping out however they can. After an hour, Rock is back up and ready. "Dr Light, I'd like to make a request," He says. "I'd like the Mega Arm back."

"Whatever for?"

"The robots there are much too strong for the Mega Buster to handle. I need some more power."

"... Alright." He agrees, and outfits Mega Man with the upgraded Mega Arm. "You already know how this works. Now, make sure Top Man gets back as soon as possible."

Mega Man nods, and beams back to Tephra Cave, where Shulk and Reyn await. "Alright, Rock." Shulk says. "The exit is just ahead."


	3. Chapter 3 - Attack on Colony 6

_Bionis Kneecap - The Trio_

The three exit the cave, onto the kneecap of the Bionis. From their location, a titan is directly in view. "There it is," Reyn growls. "The Mechonis. Our enemy."

"Yes. Our… Enemy," Shulk replies as Mega Man looks to the titan in front of them. "What is that thing…?"

"That's the Mechonis, where the Mechon are coming from. The enemy of the Bionis." Reyn fills in Mega Man on the history of the Bionis and Mechonis, through the war, and the Battle of Sword Valley. "But that was a year ago. Too many died in that war, and some were permanently wounded. Dunban can't use his right arm anymore."

Mega Man thinks of that as the group goes on. After Shulk and Reyn buy some new clothes for the region, some food, and get Reyn a new Driver, they go on, until…

"I'm detecting smoke…" Mega Man looks around. "Northwest, not too far from here." He starts down the path, coming across a buggy. "Here's the source. Shulk, Reyn, over here!"

"A buggy?" Reyn asks. "Who'd leave a buggy lyin' around? Shulk, you know?"

Shulk doesn't respond for a good minute. When he does, he looks to the other two. "There's a boy being chased by monsters."

"A boy? Where?" Mega Man looks around, trying to find them.

"Somewhere close to water. We need to get there quick!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Reyn starts running off, trying to find anywhere with water. He eventually finds a waterfall pouring into a small pond, and a boy surrounded by Leg Tokilos. The trio get in front of the boy, blocking the enemies from attacking him. "W-Who are you?!" He cries, scared for his life.  
"That can wait!" Reyn replies. "Go! Get outta here! We'll take care of this!"  
The child nods silently, and runs off toward the buggy. Mega Man charges up the Mega Arm and fires at one of the monsters, while Shulk and Reyn take care of the other two, allowing the battle to end rather quickly. "Let's get back to the buggy, that kid must be confused as all get out," Reyn starts for the buggy again, but Mega Man stops him. "I've got a quicker way. Hold still." He grabs both Shulk and Reyn's shoulders, and teleports to the buggy. As soon as The trio beam in, they head right to the child. "Are you okay? No injuries or anything?" Mega Man asks, switching his buster out for a hand.

"No, I'm alright," he replied. "I'm Juju."

"Pleasure to meet ya, kid." Reyn smiles to the kid to avoid intimidating him. "I'm Reyn, that's Shulk, and this is Rock. Where are ya from, Juju?"

"I live in a camp, not too far from here. I can take you there, if you want, you'll need a place to rest."

"That sounds good to me," Shulk replies. "Where is it?"

"Just follow me,it's not too far from here."

 _? - The Trio_

The quartet reach a small pathway through a cluster of trees, leading to a lake. "Here's the camp," Juju starts. "Most of us had to come here after the attack. My sister Sharla's the medic, she'd love to meet you!"

"Juju!" A woman's voice called.

"Sharla!" He turns around and runs to her, giving her a hug. But she's not too happy with the boy. "I thought I told you not to drive off alone, you could have gotten killed!"

"Sharla, it's okay!" He beckons the trio closer. "This is Reyn, Shulk, and Rock. They saved me from some monsters."

The robot waves to Sharla, who waves back. "Well thank you, then."

"I told them they could rest here for the night," Juju says, his voice starting to go quiet.

"Did you now… Alright, come inside, we can talk there."

The trio follows her into a small cave.

"Are you three from Colony 6? Is it alright? What happened to Gadolt?"

"No, we're from Colony 9," Shulk replies. "What happened in Colony 6?"

"The Mechon returned… The first time for a year… They attacked the colony. The colonel, Otharon, sent me and Juju to get as many colonyfolk to safety as we could. Gadolt stayed behind, helped the Defence Force hold them off. We haven't heard back in a week…"

"The same thing happened to Colony 9. Something odd happened there, too. A Mechon the Monado couldn't cut."

"That's impossible, the Monado was made specifically to kill Mechon. How could it fail?"

Shulk looks a bit miffed at this statement, what with all of his research, but he doesn't say anything.

"We don't know yet, but we'll find out as soon as possible." Mega Man sighs. "In the meantime, though, I've been outfitted with something that, if successful, should be able to take them down. It's untested, though, so I can't say for sure."

Juju hears their conversation, and comes into the room. "So Colony 6 is still under attack?"

"It won't be for long, we'll head over there first thing in the morning."

"Let me come with you!"

"Kid, you're too young to fight." Reyn sighs. "Listen to Sharla, stay here."

"But you're the same age as I am!" He points to Mega Man.

"I am a robot that was built with the ability to take abilities from my foes, I don't age. Please, let us handle this. I don't want another civilian to be hurt by these things."

Juju, seemingly realizing his defeat, nods in silence before heading back to his bedroll.

"I'm going to shut down for now," Mega Man tells the trio. "Give me a knock when it's daylight."

Shulk nods. "I may join you there. G'night, Reyn. Night, Sharla." He waves to the other two before picking a place to sleep, leaving Reyn alone with Sharla.

"Reyn, you really remind me of Gadolt when you get angry." She smiles a bit at the thought of the man.

"I do?"

"Gadolt's taken care of us ever since we were young. I always saw him as a big brother really, but he was more of a father to Juju… He'd call him 'kid' whenever he told him off, just like you did."

"I don't think I'm ready to be someone's old man." He chuckles a bit.

 _Refugee Camp - Mega Man_

"You know, Shulk," Mega Man begins. "I almost didn't notice the vision you had while Juju was trying to convince us to bring him with us. What was it?"

Shulk shudders a bit. "It wasn't good… Juju was attacked by an M71. Sharla was there, too. Both of them were killed… And then that faced Mechon appeared. The same one who killed Fiora." He shudders at the thought of facing that… thing.

A sound is heard from outside the cave. A buggy is driving away. Mega Man halts his shutdown program. "Shulk, did you hear that?"

"The buggy! He's going to Colony 6, the madman! I'll get Sharla and Reyn!"  
"Got it, I'll go after Juju!" Mega Man dons his armor once again, summoning Rush to follow his trail. Meanwhile, Shulk goes into the main chamber to inform Sharla.

Mega Man comes across Juju's buggy mid-trip. "Juju! Get back to the colony, you're not safe out here!"

"Don't try to stop me, Rock! I'm going to save Colony 6, no matter what!"  
"Juju, you didn't even come with a weapon! Not even mentioning the Mechon are impervious to your method of attack!"  
Juju simply brushes him off. "I'll find Otharon. He and Gadolt must still be alive, they wouldn't let themselves get killed by the Mechon!"

The boy increases the buggy's speed, leaving Mega Man in the dust. He curses silently. How is he supposed to keep him alive if he charges right through enemy lines unarmed!?

 _Refugee Camp - Shulk_

"Sharla, Reyn!" Shulk bursts out of the cave. "Juju's gone to Colony 6!"

"We heard the buggy!" Reyn replies, more than a bit miffed at the child's actions. "Stupid kid!"

"We have to get there soon. Something bad's going to happen!"

"What did you see?"

"A deep valley. Everything's engulfed in flames. A dark shadow comes, it.. It kills Juju!"

"The Metal Faced Mechon?"

"Yeah."

"Where does it happen? Is it near Colony 6?"

"I don't know. I think so."

"Let's get after him, Shulk!"

The two begin to leave, but Sharla is simply too confused. "Hold on a second! What was that all about?!"

Reyn stops, and turns around. "I know you won't believe this, but Shulk can see the future."

"The future? That's not possible!"

"That's what I thought as well," Shulk replies. "I still can't quite explain it. But that vision _will_ come true unless we stop it."

"So you're saying Juju's in danger?"

"Believe it or not, that's your choice. But I wouldn't be standing here today if not for his visions."

"Juju…. Okay. I can't say I believe you, but there's no time to waste. He's in a buggy, meaning he's probably taking Raguel Bridge."

"Alright, let's go find Juju!"

Sharla snickers. "You sound like Gadolt, that's how I know it's not worth arguing."

"What am I, some kind of Gadolt substitute?"

The trio continue onward, where they find Rush. "Mega Man's been here. Rush, do you know where he is?"

The robotic dog barks, and starts running to a large bridge, with a crashed buggy. Mega Man is standing in front of it, crouched down. "What happened?" Shulk asks, approaching the vehicle.

"It's kind of obvious. He crashed the buggy, and continued on foot. He can't have gone too far. We'll find him soon. Let's get going, I'm picking up Machines."

With the fourth member of their little team found once again, they continue on until they reach the outskirts of Colony 6. Juju is standing there, facing a large, tentacled Mechon. "An M71!" Shulk exclaims. Mega Man has pieced this together. "Just like the vision! Stay back, I'll take care of this!" _(Time to test out my Mega Arm on a Mechon!)_ He charges up, firing his fist toward the large machine. The fist is about to hit it's outer shell, but one of the tentacles bats it away without so much of a scratch. "Right… Well, this isn't good. Get ready, guys! I'll get Juju out of the way!" Mega Man bursts onto the battlefield, grabbing Juju. One of the tentacles starts coming his way, almost as fast as Nitro Man.

The Monado glows a Cobalt blue, and Shulk swipes. The same cobalt blue glows around Juju, but Mega Man is, once again, unaffected. Mega Man, with no time to react, suddenly changes his color scheme. His light blue becomes white, and his dark blue becomes almost one with the sky. _(Another weapon!)_ "SKULL BARRIER!" Mega Man is all too happy to have this weapon return to his arsenal. He fires, and is suddenly surrounded by ethereal skulls. The tentacle bounces off the barrier, into a cliff. "Well, it seems to have gotten stronger since last I used it." He brings Juju back. "Shulk, ready?! We're gonna need that new function, whatever it is!"

Shulk simply nods. "Let's get to it!"

 _Outside Colony 6 - Shulk_

Shulk opens up with a Backslash, now that the Mechon is facing toward Mega Man. That can't be good for too long, though. Mega Man barely survived the last blow, he'll need Shield soon. He tries to send one his way, but the Monado outright refuses. What is going on with that? Could it be that the Monado only grants protection to Homs? He has little time to think. He's drawn the aggravation from the Mechon. "Shadow Eye!" He pulls his weapon back, and the Mechon turns away, facing Reyn this time. He _knows_ he can give a Shield to him, though he waits just a bit. Mega Man, now that he's able to get a clear shot, fires his Mega Arm at the Mechon once again. It tears through the robot like paper. Astounding! If Mega Man will allow it, he simply _has_ to study that arm cannon.

The M71 falls to the ground, and the group all takes a collective breath. "Juju, are you alright?" Sharla crouches down to his level. The boy nods, and is then met with a slap in the face, followed by a warm embrace. Reyn smiles. "Well, looks like we changed the future! Right, Shulk?"

"No.. That couldn't have been the Mechon from the vision."

"What about it? We changed more than we expected is all!"  
"No, something isn't right."  
An engine is heard, and a large Mechon comes crashing down. Sharla holds Juju close, trying to be sure she doesn't lose him a _third_ time. Shulk gazes upon the Mechon. "This isn't the same one!"  
"But it's got a face 'n' all!"

"I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU, MONADO BOY!"

"What?! It spoke!"

"THE WAY METAL FACE SCARPERED, I EXPECTED YOU TO BE SOME BIG, SCARY MONSTER! BUT YOU'RE JUST SOME PATHETIC LITTLE KID!"

Shulk holds his sword up once again, prepared for battle as the Mechon brings his hammer to the ready. It slams it against the ground, knocking everyone, save for Mega Man, off their feet. The Mechon then grabs Juju from Sharla's hands. Reyn pushes himself up, getting his Driver at the ready. "You piece of junk! Let 'im go!" he calls out. Shulk gets off the ground as well, just as the faced Mechon summons some extra troops to face these children. Reyn stays back to deal with them, allowing Mega Man and Shulk to, once again, focus on the main target. The large Mechon scoffs. "Why you little…"  
Shulk strikes, but the Mechon's armor deflects the attack flawlessly.

"Why can't I use the Monado!? It seems to be just against the Faces!"

He ducks out of the way as the large Mechon's hammer comes swinging at him. "But I can still see his movements…"

Needless to say, the Face isn't happy with that. "Well look at you! Darting all over the place. Is that the Monado's power? No matter, you're just flesh and blood! And I reckon you're nearly done!" He swings once again, before saying in a singsong voice, "Behind you!"

Mega Man fires a charged shot behind him, taking out three Mechon that were approaching him. Shulk takes the opportunity to attack relentlessly, but nothing works. The Mechon rises into the air. "Well, this was fun, but now I'm bored! I'll keep a hold of this brat! If you want 'im, come to Colony 6! But you best make it quick, I'm getting hungry!"

Reyn spits curses at the machine. "You! You're gonna pay!"

"I can't wait to grind you all into dust!" He cackles as he rides off. Mega Man's armor changes once again. His sky blue turns a cream pink. As soon as the transformation is complete, he dashes off, chasing the Mechon.

 _Colony 6 - Mega Man_

Mega Man reaches the gates of Colony 6. "This isn't going to hold me back." He growls, charging up to blow down the entrance gate. Once it's in splinters, he runs through. "Where are you!?" He continues running until he sees the large Mechon go down into a cavern. "The mine," he whispered to himself. "Sharla said that's where the survivors of the attack are!" With no hesitation, he follows him down.

The Ether Mine, to Mega Man at least, was very reminiscent to his brother Brick Man's room. Very dark and earthy. "Note to self. Tell Brick about this," He says aloud, notifying a Mechon that an intruder has arrived. Mega Man turns to the foe, charges up the Mega Arm, and fires, tearing through its armor before returning to Mega Man. "Great! It works! Now to find that Faced Mechon!"

After tearing his way through enemy after enemy, he comes across a storage room, with a single human fending off a crowd of Mechon with a rifle. It doesn't look like he could finish them off on his own, so Mega Man jumps in to help, destroying every last one. "You alright, sir?" He asks, going to check on him.

"I'm fine, son," He replies, much to Mega Man's relief. "Who are you? You don't look like one of the Colonyfolk."

"My name is Mega Man. I was chasing after a Faced Mechon that had kidnapped a kid named Juju. He came down here."

"Juju was captured by a Mechon!?" Otharon gasps quietly.

"Yes, I'm going to find him now. If my instincts are correct, he's at the bottom of the mine. Now where is the path down?"

"Keep following this path. Need any help?"

"No thanks, you're not equipped to take out Mechon. I've got my Mega Arm, I can rip right through them. Stay safe, stay away from the Mechon, and wait for Shulk, Sharla and Reyn."

Before the man can speak again, Mega Man goes down the path, tearing down more Mechon before reaching the Central Pit. He looks down, and sees the Faced Mechon at the very bottom. Without bothering with the puzzles above, he jumps down to the lowest floor. "Mechon!" He calls to him. "Give the kid back! This doesn't need to get violent."

The large, black Mechon simply laughs. "Hell-bent on diplomacy, eh? Too bad. Those Colony 6 people were hardly filling! Hope you're better than them! And if not I can have the kid for dessert!"

"What?!" Mega Man hardly believes the enemy's words.

"Welcome to the dinner party! I'm your host, Xord, and tonight's meal - You!"

 _Xord Battle - Mega Man Solo_

Mega Man starts off by charging up his Mega Arm. "If a fight's what you want, a fight is what you'll get!" He cries as his fist flies toward the Face, punching a hole through his booster. "Agh! You're gonna pay for that!"

"Xord, we don't need t-" Before Mega Man can finish, Xord slams his hammer down, blowing Mega Man away. "I beg to differ! This is a war, Homs!" He laughs at the supposed feeble attempt of trying for peace, but Mega Man pushes himself up, Sparks flying off his arms. " _You_ 've forgotten the First Law. Time for a crash course!" He charges up, and fires again, the arm heading for Xord's face. Before he can react, the arm bashes his face in, causing a scream of pain as he falls to the ground. Mega Man runs over to the Mechon, grabbing hold of his arm. Mega Man's armor changes to a black and white color scheme, with his Buster being replaced by a hammer.

"What.. What are you doing…?" Xord tries to speak, but he finds it difficult.

Mega Man simply doesn't respond, giving the hammer a few swings. Seeing his opponent's form change shape like this, Xord has pieced one thing together. "You're no Homs, are ya?"

At first, Mega Man doesn't respond, but he relents, answering "No, I'm not a Homs."

"Why do you fight against your own brothers, then…"

"I fight to protect mankind. It doesn't matter where I am, or who I have to fight. I won't let the Mechon kill any more innocent Homs."

Xord just laughs weakly. "You don't know, do you…"

"Know what?" Mega Man looks to the Mechon's face. "What don't I know?"

"104o, 67', 34" North… 12o, 5', 23" West… Egil…"

"Egil? Who's Egil? What are those coordinates?"

"Sorry, boy, my time's up…" The Mechon's red eyes fade to black, and he slumps back.

Mega Man just sighs, and goes to retrieve his I.C. Chip, the chip that contains all of a robot's personality, lifting up the faceplate. To his shock, and horror, he finds a thickly bearded man, covered in blood, barely breathing. Without thinking, Mega Man grabs the man, teleporting back to the lab. "Dr Light! Wounded human!"

 _Ether Mine - Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla_

Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla reach the bottom of the Ether Mine Central Pit, Otharon in tow. "The blue boy came running down here not too long ago," he tells the group. "He may still be fighting the machine."

"Not likely," Shulk replies. "He tore through that M71 like it was paper. He wouldn't be fighting it for very long."

Reyn sees Juju, trapped in a crystal like container. "Sharla, there he is! He looks okay!"

"But.. where is everyone? The survivors from the attack…"

"I don't know, Sharla… Maybe Rock will, though." Shulk tries to reassure her, but when they arrive at Xord's armour, there's nothing but what looks to be an empty cockpit. Shulk inspects it closely. "It looks like a Homs could fit in here," he says, calling Reyn over while Otharon and Sharla get Juju. Almost as soon as Juju is safely caught, Mega Man teleports back in, a somber expression hung on his face.

"What is it, Rock?" Shulk asks. "You seem… disheartened."

"The Mechon that kidnapped Juju. He wasn't a Mechon."

Hearing this, Sharla rejoins the group. "What was that?" She asks Rock.

"Xord, the Mechon who kidnapped Juju. He wasn't a Mechon. He's a Homs with machine parts inside him."

"What!?" The entire group is in shock from this.

"I took him back home to keep him alive. He's on life support right now, but he should get through it. He doesn't seem to remember his old self, but… he gave me a set of coordinates."

"Coordinates? Where to?" Shulk, at least, sounds interested.

"The head of the Mechonis. A place called Agniritha." He calls for Rush, who shows them a projection of a map, leading to the head of the Mechonis by way of Sword Valley.

"This takes us right through the battlefield, Rock. No doubt, the Mechon are marching through that area."

"I can go there now, and come back with the information. Either way, I think that may be a clue to find Top Man. He could have been taken to Agniritha by some sort of Faced Mechon, like the one that attacked your colony, or possibly even Xord."

"That's not good… If a Faced Mechon took your friend, he may end up like them." Shulk starts thinking over what their next move should be. "Alright. We'll go to Agniritha as w-"

 _Shulk's Vision_

 _He stands atop a large, black tower. A purple giant with red eyes stares at him. "LET THE SHACKLES BE RELEASED!" it shouts, and next, he's facing Metal Face. "You will pay for what you've done to the Emperor and Fiora!" He yells as he strikes the Mechon's face, doing a great deal of damage. Another Faced Mechon approaches, and a hatch lifts up, but the vision ends before he can see what's inside._

 _Back to the Present_

"Shulk, what's wrong?" Otharon tilts his head.

"He's having a vision. Don't worry, it's normal," Mega Man replies. "Apparently ever since he got the Monado, that's been happening. What is it, Shulk?"

"I.. i don't know. We were standing on top of a black tower. Something… Something that looked like a Homs, made the Monado change, and it was able to strike Metal Face."

"A black tower… I remember seeing something like that while walking through Eryth Sea. Prison Island, I think it was called. That's what Dickson called it, anyway."

"Well, it seems we have a destination. If going there will let the Monado take down Mechon, we need it," Reyn says. "Let's take Juju and Sharla back to the camp, first."

"No need, I cleared out the area of Mechon while I was going after Xord, the colony is back in our hands. If you need, I can tell the residents of that now."

"Please do," Otharon replies. "They'll be ecstatic, and take Juju and Sharla with you, they'll trust them."

Mega Man needed nothing else said before he beamed out of the mine with his two guests. With no further interruptions, the group exited the mine. But no sooner that they saw the light of day, they felt the ground shake.

"What was that?" Reyn looks around, thinking maybe Xord's armor has latched onto the lift, but it was no such thing. Shulk looks to the top, and sees the top point of a large metal spike. "Not now… Reyn, get ready for a fight," he says. "It's Metal Face."


	4. Chapter 4 - Satorl Marsh

_(Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait! But now, almost a year since posting Chapter 1, I'm back with Chapter... 4..._

 _And I have the audacity to have 40 chapters for this thing..._

 _Anyway, get ready for a long one!)_

 _Outside Colony 6 - Shulk_

Shulk readies the Monado, and Reyn switches his Driver to its attack position. The lift clicks to a stop at the exit of the mine, and Metal Face cackles, surrounded by a legion of Faced Mechons. "Pathetic! After all that talk, Xord was crushed by worthless maggots like you!"

"This one can talk 'n' all!" Reyn calls out.

"I can talk alright. And I've got a good memory! Fiooora, Fiora get out! Her screams were music to my ears as my claws slid _right_ through her soft flesh! Like a hot knife through butter!"  
The Monado crackles to life, and Shulk bolts toward the Mechon. "Talk all you want! For those words will be your last!"

He swings the Monado at the Mechon, but it blocks the blow with its claws. "The Monado, eh? It's been a while! But you should know by now. The Monado can't stop me!" He strikes Shulk, who's sent flying backwards. Reyn gives him a hand up as Metal Face continues. "Anyway you slice it, _boy,_ the Monado ain't gonna work! Didn't work then, won't work now!" He flicks one of his claws toward the duo. "Now, time to cut you down to size!" He swings toward the two, but a red bolt lands right in front of his feet, barely missing. "What!?" He looks in the direction it came from. A man in a red bandanna, holding a rather large rifle, is standing. "Now, let 'em have it, beast!" Another man in a black cloak rushes down the hillside, striking down Mechon after Mechon. He turns to the duo, smiling. "Sorry I kept you waiting," he says.

"Dunban!"

"Looks like we were just in time. Dickson!"

"Let's give 'em a warm Homs welcome," the man in the bandanna grins as he fires another shot. The quartet scraps even more, but as soon as one dies, another takes its place.

""There's no end to them! Where are they all coming from?" Reyn remarks. Shulk growls. "If only the Monado would work on these things!"

"Look at you all!" Metal Face laughs.

"Look at this, Metalbrain!" Dickson fires another shot, but the Mechon simply blocks it. "That all you got, grandpa?"

"Running out of ideas, here!"

Dunban charges him. "You may be able to block a projectile, but let's see if you can block _this!_ " He leaps up, swinging his glaive down, but it meets the same result. "Tell me. How does it feel to be such a _pathetic_ hero?" The Mechon throws him back. Shulk calls over to him. "You alright, Dunban?"

"Does it hurt? I bet it does!" The Mechon continues. "It hurts because the Monado won't work for a bunch of losers like you!" He brings his claws down on Dunban, who rolls out of the way.

"What are you!?"

"Save it, I ain't interested. You maggots need to learn when you've been stepped on!" He charges up a ball of energy from the spike on his back.

"Everyone! Fall back!" Dunban calls.

"Won't change a thing, I'm gonna wipe you out once and for all!" He points the spike directly at the group. He prepares to fire, but a bolt of green lightning strikes one of the Faced Mechons. Shulk looks to the sky, and sees a dragon-like creature firing at the Mechon. Metal Face sounds absolutely furious. "A Telethia!?"

It makes another run, taking out his entire army. Shulk leaps onto Metal Face's leg, and strikes. It slowly starts breaking through. All of a sudden, the world goes blue.

 _The group stands in front of a grassy spire. "We must be outside the tower."_

 _Next, they stand in front of the same giant from his last vision. "Welcome, true heir to the Monado."_

 _Then, a girl runs to an old man. "Father!" she cries, and embraces him._

 _Dunban crouches protectively over the woman as Metal Face cackles in that same, grating tone. "Weak. Weak and pathetic!"_

 _Then, Shulk wields the Monado in the face of the machine. "You will pay for what you've done!" Shulk cries. The Monado's blade grows twice as long, and he strikes down. "You will know the pain and suffering you caused the emperor and Fiora!"_

`"Another one…"  
"Enough of this!" Metal Face throws him off, but he's in no condition to continue the battle. "You got lucky this time, brat. But next time, your head is mine!"

"You're not getting away!" Shulk chases after him, but the Mechon has already taken to the skies. Reyn joins in the chase, but Dunban calls them back. "You've gotta be kidding," Reyn exclaims. "He's the one who killed Fiora!"

"Know your limits, we'll get another chance."  
Shulk simply lowers his head, and deactivates the Monado. "... Fine. That thing saved us, whatever it was."

Dickson approaches Otharon. "It's been a while, grandpa. One year, if my memory serves. Good to see you haven't kicked the bucket."  
"Put a sock in it," he says with a smirk. Shulk puts the Monado in its sheath. "Thanks for helping out back there, you two."

"I don't think we did anything," Dunban replies.

"He's right. Save your thanks for that giant bird." Dickson adds.

"What was that thing?"

"A Telethia. A mystical beast that protects the sleeping Bionis. Though I've never heard of one ever venturing down to where us Homs live. Strange…"

"A Telethia. So that's what it's called." Dunban puts his hand to his chin.

"A mystical beast that protects the Bionis." Shulk mimics his movements.  
Dunban decides to change the topic. "So what's your plan from here? Go after that metal faced machine, I presume?"

Reyn punches his palm. "What else? He's gonna pay for what he did to Fiora."

"Well, there's only one place he'd go. Galahad Fortress in Sword Valley. A year ago, those things were building a huge fortress, right in the valley. Tactically, it's an excellent location to launch attacks from. I feel there's a strong chance that they've finished building it. That would explain why both colonies were attacked so recently."

"Sword Valley," Otharon recalls. "The very place we made our last stand."

"So it's settled," Reyn enthusiastically calls. "Bash down a fortress and smash some metal brains!"

"Easy, Reyn." Shulk stops him.

"Shulk?" He tilts his head, confused. Shouldn't he want to go immediately as well?  
"There's one more place I need to go."  
"But what could be more important than… Wait. You saw another one."

"Another what? What's this all about?" Dickson asks. "Did you find something out about the Monado while you've been away?"

Shulk and Reyn explain to Dickson about the Monado's gift of giving Shulk a future sight, recalling their time in Tephra Cave, as well as with Xord.

"These visions sound pretty handy. Well, out with it, what'd you see?"

"I was somewhere… very high up. Fighting at the peak of a huge tower, fighting Metal Face. I heard a voice, and the Monado's power was instantly unleashed, and his armor gave way. The Monado doesn't work against Metal Face at the moment, but if that vision comes true…"

"A Tower?" Dickson asks. "Doesn't give us much to go on. Can you remember anything else?"

"... I remember a huge horn. That's it! As I fought Metal Face, I could see the Bionis' head."

"... Prison Island. I've never been, but I've heard of a black tower on the head of the Bionis. They say it was built by the High Entia."

"The High Entia are real?" Shulk sounds almost ecstatic. "I thought they were a myth!"

"I wouldn't blame ya, son. An ancient race living at the top of the Bionis? Sounds far fetched to me. But Bionis is home to all sorts of people, not just us. That includes the High Entia."

"Have you ever met one?" Shulk asks.

"Well yeah."

"Awesome! Man, Dickson, you're just full of surprises!" Reyn laughs.

"What can I say? I'm well travelled." He pulls a mock-heroic pose. "And it's all for your future! Day and night I've searched new lands, met new cultures and gained knowledge for our people. The life of a wandering old fool. A lonely one at that."

"Oh, stop your whining." Dunban retorts. "You do it because you enjoy it. And you make a tidy profit."  
"Who asked you, Dunban?"

Dunban simply smiles, and turns back to Shulk. "So what's it to be?"

"We'll head there. To Prison Island."

"There are alternatives. We could abandon the Colonies, find somewhere the Mechon cannot find us, and live in secret."

"I realized something while we were fighting Metal Face. Wherever we go, they'll follow. We can't run from these things. We must fight on."

"I see. Then, I am obliged to join you."

"You want to come with us?" Shulk sounds shocked.

"What? Scared I'll get hurt?"

"No way! We know you're stronger than anything! Right, Reyn?"

"You bet! Man, Rock'll be happy to hear you're coming."

"Rock? Who is that? Someone from Colony 6?"

There's a flash of blue light from the lift, and Mega Man runs back to the group, along with a Homs woman. Instinctively, Dickson fires a blast at the robot, who dodges out of the way. "Wait, I'm a friend!" He calls back, hands raised. Shulk puts his face into his hand. "That would be Rock. He's been travelling with us since Tephra Cave, he took down Xord by himself."

"The people at the Camp got the message, they're coming back to rebuild the colony. They'll certainly need help, though," he informs Otharon, before looking directly to Dunban. "... Should I even ask?"

"Rock, this is Dunban, he's joining us on our journey." Shulk decides that, considering they never officially met, he'd introduce the two.

"Wait, you're the guy from Colony 9, the one Shulk got the Monado from, right?"

Dunban simply smiles. "I see my reputation precedes me. Where were you while we were fighting? We could have used your help."

"Sharla and I were acting under orders from Otharon, getting the people from Colony 6 back into their homes. Juju is handling reconstruction of the colony now, though they don't have everything they need. Most of them can't be found in the entirety of Gaur Plains, much less around the Colony. Now, where are we heading next?"

"Prison Island, close to the Bionis' Head."

"Sounds like a plan to me. This should be quick." He nods, getting his buster ready.

"Not so fast, Blue boy. In order to get to Prison Island," Dickson begins, "we have to get through Makna Forest. And before we get there we have to go through Satorl Marsh. I don't think I need to tell you how dangerous that is."

"Couldn't Rock simply teleport us to Makna Forest?" Reyn asks. "He did it earlier when we saved Juju from those monsters earlier."

Rock shakes his head. "I can't get a good reading on the coordinates, we have to walk through it. That may be a problem for you guys, if it's anything like marshes at home."

"Couldn't we just use Rush?" Shulk asks, a bit hesitant. "Not only would we get past Makna, we could get to Prison Island without going through Eryth Sea."  
Rock shoots this idea down, too. "There's seven of us right now, Rush wouldn't have enough space or energy to get all of us to our destination. The closest I could think is just have me go through it myself, and teleport you guys once I make it to the end. Sound good?"

Shulk and Dunban nod, as does Sharla. Reyn, however, is not having this. "You ain't goin' in there alone. Didn't you tell us that you have this thing about not harming living things? You'll need one of us to fight them off."

Dickson laughs a bit. "Thanks for volunteering, Reyn. We'll be waiting here for you. Don't get yourself killed, alright?"

"You got it, old man. Don't worry, we'll get ya there." Reyn nods, and the two set off into the swamp.

 _Satorl Marsh - Mega Man_

"Rather unlike you, Reyn," Mega Man begins. "I thought you'd want to wait with the rest of them."

"Nah. I'm part of the Colony 9 Defence Force. It'd be a disgrace to the Force if I turned this down. Not every day you get to go past Tephra Cave, much less this place!' Reyn chuckles, though he does stop for a brief bit. "By the way, why didn't you just fly out to Makna Forest, get the coordinates, and teleport us there once you got them?"

"Rush is low on energy, he needs to rest for a while. He's not a mindless machine, like these Mechon. He's like a normal dog."

Reyn simply acknowledges this, and the two continue in silence, until a few odd creatures come into view. Rock instinctively readies his buster, but Reyn holds him off. "They're just Nopon, they're no harm to us. We're not the only race here, ya know?"

"I knew that, it's just every other race has tried to kill us so far. This is a relief, at least."

The two Nopon turn out to be Merchants, traveling through the Marsh from Makna Forest. The duo decides to buy some more armor and weapons for the party before continuing on.

"Hom Hom need good luck getting through here," one of the Nopon says. Mega Man tilts his head. "What do you mean?"

"Gateway to Makna has been locked. Hom Homs must go through ancient Bird People test! Find the Sororal Statues, you will know then."

"Sororal Statues… Which way might that be?" Mega Man asks, but Reyn taps his shoulder, pointing to a set of gigantic statues not too far from them. "I think those are it."

"Yes, yes! Hom Hom very smart! Above Sororal Statues is gateway to Makna Forest, home of Nopon!"

"Well, let's check out these Sororal Statues, and get out of here, the air here is getting into my systems. Have a pleasant day, you two." Mega Man smiles. Reyn nods to the two Nopon, and continues on his way.

 _Light Labs - Dr Light_

Dr Light calls Mega Man from the Terminal. "Mega Man, can you read me?"

" _... Yeah, I can read you, but it's a bit fuzzy."_

"Rock? Where are you right now?" Roll steps through the door, putting down the broom. "You're safe, right?"

" _Well, safe as I can be when we're being attacked by Mechon."_

"Mechon? What are those? Some type of advanced Stardroid?"

" _No, they're completely different. The planet is actually really interesting. Most of it is water, as you know, but there's two giant landmasses, shaped like living beings. Local legend says that these two landmasses fought each other in an endless battle. I'll have to tell the whole story once I get home."_

" _Oi, Rock. Who ya talkin' to?"_

"Rock? Who's that?" Roll asks.

" _Is that ya girlfriend? Do robots even have girlfriends?"_

" _That's my_ _ **sister**_ _, Reyn! Roll, this is Reyn. Reyn, Roll."_

"Pleasure to meet you, Reyn," Roll says.

" _Same to you, Ms. Sorry about that,"_ Reyn calls back from the other end.

" _Anyway. The area we're in right now is a marsh, with a lot of high walls. Do you think you could send in Wheel Cutter? It'd make climbing much easier. Rain Flush would be nice as well, it'd help with the Mechon greatly."_

"What are these Mechon, Mega Man? You went on a tangent."

" _To make a long story short, they're machines from the other titan, the Mechonis. They kill Homs - what the people of Bionis call humans - and apparently eat them. Some of them are gargantuan, and have people inside, like when I brought Xord to the lab to heal him up. No one but Shulk seems to be able to damage them, and that's only with The Monado."_

"I see. And what of Top Man? Have you located him?"

" _Unfortunately, no. But the Faced Mechon seem to have cockpits large enough to fit him, I believe that whoever is making them has Top Man. Regardless, I feel like I've become part of a larger story. Even if I_ do _find Top Man, I'm staying for the long haul."_

"Absolutely not, Mega Man. We have no idea what is going on there, we have no map of their world, for all we know you could end up walking into a trap!"

" _Doctor Light. These robots are slaughtering humans. There's only one person who has been able to destroy them, and they can't do a thing against Faced Mechon. I am quite literally their only hope until we reach Prison Island. I am staying here until the fight is over. Doctor Wily hasn't shown his face in years, and if he does, Proto Man can get into the fight. I'm staying."_

Doctor Light goes to say something, but he thinks it over. He wants his son to come back alive, but at the same time… he speaks the truth. "Alright. Just return home safely, alright?"

" _Don't worry, Doctor. I'll be back, and maybe even bring the group along. You_ have _to meet Dunban sometime. Mega Man signing out. I'll get a report to you once we clear the marsh."_

"Understood. I will send the weapon data to you as soon as I can."

" _Thanks, Doctor. Mega Man out."_

Roll nods, and heads out of the room. Ever since the Roboenza Epidemic, Protoman had left an earpiece to contact him whenever he was needed. Roll inserts it, and turns it on. "Blues, big brother? Could you come to the Lab? Dr Light wants to speak with you about something."

" _Roger that. On my way now."_

A whistle echoes through the halls of Light Labs, and Protoman teleports into the main room. "What is it, Light?"

"Protoman, thank you for coming. As you know, Mega Man has been sent to XC-1 to locate Top Man, but he's not going to be able to come home for quite a while. If Wily attacks again, we are counting on you."

"You brought me all this way to tell me something I already know?" He scoffs.

"That's not all. I want to upgrade your Proto Shield. Well, it's more of a replacement, really. It would take some time, but it should allow you to block attacks from behind as well. This Proto Barrier should be able to take the full force of even the most devastating attack. Will you accept?"

The robot thinks it over for a bit. "... Fine. When will it be done?"

"If I start at this moment, 6 hours from now."

"Then let's do it. We've got enough time for now." He holds his Protoshield out for Doctor Light to take, but he pushes it away. "It won't work with that as the base, this will be completely different."

Protoman simply nods, and brings his shield back.

 _Light Labs - Protoman_

Doctor Light returns a few hours later, with a chip in his hand. "It's complete. All we need now is to test it."

"How am I supposed to hold this?" Proto Man asks. "How is this any better than my shield?"

"I am not able to make it a tangible object at all times. This functions as a weapon chip, and therefore will use weapon energy to use. Let's get to testing it. Follow me."

Doctor Light heads out the door, to a mock shooting range. "We'll test it here. Stand at that X, and activate the Proto Barrier. A Metall will shoot, and if all goes well, it should bounce back."

Proto Man nods in acknowledgement, and goes to the X. "Ready. PROTO BARRIER!" He switches to the weapon, and a blue aura surrounds him. "Alright, send in the Hard Hat."

A rather small robot is deployed, wearing a yellow construction helmet. It pops its head into view, and fires 3 shots in different directions. The center shot hits the Proto Barrier, and is knocked back to the Metall, destroying it. Proto Man deactivates the weapon. "Nice. The weapon energy drains a bit quickly, though. You think you can fix that?"

"No, but I can give you the Energy Saver if needed. I just need a few more P-Chips. You wouldn't happen to have any, would you?"

Proto Man simply groans in response. "I thought we phased those out with Bolts."

"We did, but the Energy Saver can only be made with a special kind of bolt, and Mega Man used the last one to make the Balancer. We'll need the P Chips. Mercury's base should still have a plethora of them."

Proto Man sighs, and teleports out.

 _Satorl Marsh - Mega Man_

"Well, it seems we've gotten to the Sororal Statues," Mega Man says. "Now let's see what that Nopon was taking about…"

"Me?" a high pitched voice calls. Rock looks to the ground, finding a lavendar Nopon. "Oh, hello there. You wouldn't know anything about a High Entia coming of age ceremony, would you?"

"Oh yes, I know about that!" The Nopon replies. "Hom Homs must go to four parts of Satorl, and get the four Radiants to summon the Guardian!" The Nopon gives Rock a small sheet with the locations of the four Radiants.

"Let's see… Altar of Fate, Igna Territory, Dark Swamp, and Basin Cave," he reads.

"Do we really have to do all this? Didn't you say your creator would send you a new weapon 'r something?"

Mega Man checks his arsenal once more. "It seems it just came in."

Mega Man switches to his new weapon. "Alright, let's see if this will still work like it used to."

He approaches the wall to the Marsh, and activates the Wheel Cutter. It pops out, and clings to the wall, driving Mega Man upwards. Reyn stares in shock, but as soon as Mega Man reaches the top, he comes crashing down. Reyn knows this fall would kill any Homs, so he prepares to catch him. Instead, Mega Man lands directly behind his friend, perfectly fine. Reyn, on the other hand, is aghast at this. "How are you still alright after that?" He asks, not trying to mask the shock. "That's got to be a 3 kilometer drop!"

"Oh, that? My boots are equipped with a special shock absorber, it takes in the brunt force of the fall. They've saved my life on more than one occasion. I can see if Dr Light can't make you guys some, if you want."

"I think I might take you up on that offer. What was up there?"

"A ceiling, but there was one passage we could get through at the peak."

"Think you could head through, get the coords, and get the rest of the group to Makna Forest?"

"Not at this rate. The humidity in the swamp is interfering with most of my systems. At most I can move, speak, and attack. That's it."

"Damn, that can't be good. Looks like we're going through it the long way."

"I'll take the Altar and Igna Territory. You take the Swamp and Basin Cave. Sound good?"

"Sounds good."

 _Light Labs- ?_

" _So… Mega Man has left the planet again, Shadow Man? Now would be a perfect time to strike."_

A navy blue robot lies in the shadows, watching the scene unfold.

"I would not recommend that, Master Wily. Blues has been outfitted with a new weapon."

" _Drat. I'm going to visit this other world, and see if it can help. Until then, stay out of sight."_

"Understood, Master Wily. I will keep watch here, and notify you if things get out of hand."

" _Perfect."_

The crackling sound emanating from Shadow Man's earpiece cuts out, leaving the robot alone in the darkness. "This plan is insane, Wily. I hope you know what you're doing."

 _Outside Satorl Marsh - Shulk_

 _Rock stands among a horde of Brogs. He readies his Buster, but by the time he does, he's hit by the largest one. Reyn is nowhere to be seen. A single strike, and Rock hits the floor. The Brogs jump on him all at once…_

"Dunban! Sharla! We need to get going!" Shulk exclaims. "Rock's in trouble!"

Dunban and Sharla need no further explanation. The trio rushes into the marsh, leaving Dickson and Otharon to catch up. They don't bother with most of the monsters in their way, before finding Reyn knee deep in swamp water. "What's the matter, guys?" He asks, a bit concerned at Shulk's expression.

"Where's Rock?" Dunban asks. "Shulk's seen something dire, apparently."

The mention of Shulk getting a vision instantly puts him on edge. "He's on the other half of the Marsh," he replies. "Apparently these 'Bird People' had some sort of rite of passage in this area. Collect something called Radiants, and we decided to spread out. What did you see?"

"No time to explain, come on!"

Reyn simply nods, and puts the two Radiants he had gathered away. "Alright, he'll probably be at the Altar of Fate by now, it's this way!" He readies his driver, and the Quartet start off to change the future once again.

 _Altar of Fate_

Things were not looking good. The humidity of the swamp air had finally gotten to his Buster not too long ago. Charged Shots were impossible, switching to another weapon didn't do anything, and worse still, he's surrounded by frog like creatures, similar to the ones from Tephra Cave. Brogs, he thinks they're called. He remembers them being _extremely_ difficult to kill with two other people, let alone by himself. He readies his Buster, but as soon as he does so, a larger one strikes, knocking him off his feet. The other three soon join their leader in attacking.

"Backslash!"

One of the Brogs turns from Rock as soon as it feels the attack hit. It's struck with two rifle rounds, and a jab from Reyn's Driver. It falls quickly, and the other three stop attacking Rock just long enough for him to get back to his feet. Dunban, meanwhile, attacks the leader with a series of fast, hard strokes.

"Born in a world of strife!"

Another strike.

"Against the odds!"

Yet another.

"We choose to fight!"

A diagonal strike.

"Blossom Dance!"

Three blazing fast strikes, followed by an overhead cut. The leader falls. Sharla fires a Heal Bullet at Rock, even though she's doubtful that it'll help. Astonishingly enough, it works like a charm, and Rock is able to get a shot out at one of the Brogs before his Buster goes completely offline. At this point, he runs in the opposite direction of the battle to recuperate. Reyn finishes off another with a Wild Down, leaving one left. Dunban and Shulk set upon it. With their combined strength, the monster stands no chance. With the threat taken care of, Shulk and Sharla go to look over Rock. Rock seems rather calm, though it doesn't take a genius to see that it's a facade.

"This doesn't look good…" Shulk mutters. "Rock, are you able to get back home?"

Mega Man simply shakes his head. "Nothing is working." His voice sounds… different. More virtual. "Even my voice doesn't have long. You're going to have to fix me, and soon. I don't know how much more moisture my circuits can take."

Shulk nods. "Reyn, do you have the Collectopedia with you?"

"I've got it right here," he replies. Rock seems kind of confused at this. "The… what?"

"The Collectopedia. We've been keeping one of each item with us on our travels. Sometimes more, if we're lucky. Looks like we're going to need it. Just rest for now, I'll see what I can do. You'll be alright."

Rock holds his buster arm out. "If you can't fix me, there's a chip and a button in this. Take out the chip, and then press the button. It'll call Rush over. Give him the Chip."

Shulk looks curious as to why he'd want his dog to keep such an item, but now isn't the time to ask. He takes out every part they've found thus far, and gets to work.

 _Light Labs - Dr Light_

The audio feed goes quiet, as if it's been shut off. Dr Light immediately looks to the screen.

 **AUDIO FEED INTERRUPTED**

Dr Light, both confused and worried, Restarts the call. "Mega Man! Come in, Mega Man!"

" _... Dr Light?"_ A new voice calls.

"Who is this! Where is Mega Man?"

" _This is Shulk from The Bionis! Rock is heavily damaged and can't get back home! I'm going to fix him but I need your help!"_

"What happened to him?"

" _He's sustained heavy damage, his circuits are ruined from the humidity."_ Reyn calls back.

"That sounds bad… Alright, I'll walk you through the steps, Shulk. Do you have anything sharp with you? Something small."

" _... Would a gear shard work?"_

"Yes, that will work perfectly. Cut open his chest with the shard. He's incredibly weak to sharp objects, so be careful. It won't take much effort."

" _... Got it! It's open."_

"Alright. Now find any circuits and use a soft brush to wipe them off."

The response takes far too long for comfort, but it finally comes back.

" _... Done. Dried them off, too."_

"Perfect! Now is there any lasting battle damage?"

" _All over the bottom half of his body."_

"What about his feet? The back of the left foot has a board that allows him to slide. It won't work on modes 9 and 10, but as long as it's off those it should be fine."

" _It's fine. It's on mode 5, is that okay?"_

"That's fine. Now check his Buster. Is the I.C Chip properly inserted?"

" _The what?"_

"The I.C Chip. It stores a Robot's personality. If his I.C Chip is moved out of place, it could keep him from being able to do anything."

" _... Is it next to a red button?"_

"Yes, that's the one! It should be partly visible at the moment. Is it?"

" _It seems to be pushed in farther than it should."_

"Just push down on the chip. It'll pop out, and you can re-insert it."

Another long period of silence. " _Alright, got it in."_

"Yes, that will be all. He should come back any minute now, but get him back home, I can finish the repairs then."

" _Got it, I'll pass on the message."_

"Thank you, Shulk. Doctor Light out."

He ends the transmission then. With any luck, Rock will come home instantly.

 _Satorl Marsh - Shulk_

Shulk watches over his fallen comrade, hoping against hope that the meager repairs he was able to make would work. A minute passes.

Two.

Ten.

Thirty.

Reyn simply sighs. "Shulk, I don't think it worked. You probably should go ahead and do as he asked."

Shulk looks prepared to argue, but he knows that Reyn is probably right. He reaches down to Rock's buster to remove the I.C chip.

"Don't touch that," a voice says. Shulk looks to its origin, and sees Mega Man's bright blue eyes flicker to life. "Rock! You're alright?"

"Yes, I am. Thanks for that, Shulk. I would have been a goner. How'd you get here so fast, though?"

"Reyn told us where you were. It wasn't too far from here.

"Rock, you need to get back to Light Labs. You took a lot of damage, that may be what's happening here."

Mega Man simply nods, and teleports home, leaving behind the two Radiants he had collected. Dunban picks them up. "Well, at the very least we can press on."

Shulk simply nods. They can wait for Rock at the end of the Marsh, after all.

 _Sororal Statues - Dunban_

The four Homs had finally made it back to the Sororal Statues. Reyn and Shulk step up to the Adulthood Emblem in the centre of the platform, and place the radiants in their respective slots.

 _These High Entia must value combat over most else,_ Dunban thinks to himself. _This swamp is full of fierce monsters._

An ear shattering cry calls through the marsh, and a Rhogul swoops down to the emblem.

"This must be the Guardian!" Reyn exclaims. "Alright, let's take this thing down!"

Dunban nods, and immediately begins the attack. "Gale Slash!"

Just as expected, the monster starts to bleed. It turns its attention from Reyn to Dunban, who immediately follows with a Worldly Slash. Now that he knows the monster can't hurt them nearly as much, he can go all out in his attack.

That was his first mistake.

The Guardian immediately pumps itself up, almost completely undoing Dunban's special effect. It focuses entirely on him, and while Dunban is fast, the Guardian is faster.

"Reyn! We need to get its attention from Dunban, he's going to be hit hard if we don't!" Shulk calls out. But Reyn is unable to draw it away, the Guardian is completely locked on to the elder man. Five seconds remain until he's done for.

Four…

Three…

Two…

 _Light Labs - Mega Man_

Rock beams into the lab. "I'm home!" He calls out.

"It's been a while, little brother," a voice responds. Rock turns around to see Protoman leaning on the wall. "Blues!" he exclaims, going to hug his brother. It's been a while since the Roboenza outbreak, and that's the last time he had seen the older robot. Blues accepts the hug - a rare sight - before responding. "Where've you been? Light said you were on a mission."

"I can explain that in a bit," Rock replies. "Right now I need repairing. Where's Dr Light?"

"He and Roll are waiting for you in the repair ward. They've finished that new Robot Master they'd been working on."

"Wait, Meddy's been finished? Great! I can't wait to meet her."

With that, he heads into the Repair Ward. A female robot sits deactivated on a counter. She has rosy pink goggles and violet hair tied in a bow in the back, wearing a nurse's uniform. Dr Light stands next to her. "Ah, Mega Man! Perfect, we were just about to activate Meddy."

Rock smiles, and sits down on the worktable. He doesn't want to miss her activation, but he also needs repairing immediately.

"Just lie back, Mega Man," Dr Light says. "Meddy will help me with the repair work. You'll be back in perfect working order in no time."

Rock nods, and lies back on the table, powering down.

 _1 Hour Later_

Mega Man powers on, sitting up. He runs a self-diagnostic. All systems functional, it seems. He hops off the Table, only to run into an activated Meddy. "Oh! Sorry about that!"

The nurse robot simply shakes it off. "Everything's fine. DLN 089: Meddy, ready for duty!" She makes a bit of a salute, much to Rock's amusement.

"I'm sure you are, Meddy," he replies. "But I need to get back. I'll be back as soon as I can, and we can talk then, alright?"

"Sounds like a plan to me, Rock!" She smiles, and heads off. Rock doesn't make it ten steps, though, until she returns, carrying a blue cooler. "Take these, at least. I don't want my patient getting killed from a careless action." She opens the cooler to reveal 9 full Energy Tanks. "Thanks, Meddy," He says. "I'll be careful, though. don't worry about me."

"I don't need to," she replies. "I'm coming with you."

Rock stops in his tracks. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"You're gonna need someone to repair you, we can't have you dying on us, after all. Roll would kill me."

Rock simply chuckles. "I mean, you're not wrong, but still. You're not fit for a fight!"

Meddy gives a sly smile. "Oh, really?" She grabs his arm, and the two teleport to the shooting range.

"Watch this," she says, and calls in a Metall. She throws a large pill at the enemy, that explodes harmlessly on its helmet. The Metall pops out, and attempts to fire, but the shot refuses to come out. A fearful expression appears on its face before cowering underneath its helmet. "Not only will it hurt something not completely immune to damage, it keeps them from attacking, too!" She smiles. "Now let's go!"

Rock seems rather surprised by this, but, realizing that Meddy isn't going to take no for an answer, accepts the offer, and teleports back to the Bionis.

 _Satorl Marsh - Shulk._

The situation only got worse.

The Guardian struck Dunban, knocking him to the ground, and the veteran didn't get up. Its attention turned to Reyn, who was taken down before he could even react. Even Sharla, who was supposedly at a safe distance, was lying on the ground. Shulk was feeling weak. Another hit and he'd be done for. Killed by a Rhogul, not even at the Bionis' Head.

He had failed.

A vision overtook him. The Guardian would attack soon, and he'd be a goner. He calls upon the Monado to grant him more agility, but he knew that he was just preventing the inevitable.

Then, something odd happened.

A yellow and white cylinder lands on the Guardian's back, causing a minor explosion that takes it off guard. Shulk wearily turns to the new fighter, only to see Rock standing beside a girl in a white outfit. He smiles, and follows up the explosion with a Backslash. Rock follows it up with a charged shot from his Buster. "Shulk!" he cries out. "A chain attack should finish it, let's go!"

Shulk nods. "Backslash!" he cries. "Mega Man! You're up!"

"You've got it, Shulk!" He replies. "Alright, here we go! Rain Flush!" his armor changes green, and he fires a stormy cloud that rests above the Guardian. Rain comes storming down, melting away at the Guardian and causing it to fall to the ground, its feathers useless. "Meddy! Your turn!"

"Battle Routine, Set!"

She goes through her options. Paralysis, poison, confusion, she has so many fun effects to use against this thing, the thought fills her with excitement!

Then she sees the unconscious bodies of the three Homs, and the thought of fun leaves her. She produces a capsule. "Overload! Capsule Throw!" She tosses the large white pill at the Guardian, and it explodes on impact. Not the meager explosion from the yellow pill, no. This one was _much_ stronger. The Guardian stares the pill in the face, and by the time it hit it, it saw nothing.

 _Satorl Marsh - Meddy_

The first order of business was to help these humans. She drops to one knee to look over the nearest one - a girl with a rifle. "... She's going to be okay. Some superficial damage at best, but she can go on until we make it to the next town. Rock, stay by this one until she wakes up. Blond boy, I'll need you to take care of the red haired one. I'll make sure this one here is alright." She gets up from her kneeling position to check up on the dark haired human. "... same wounds as the girl, paralysis in the right arm, likely due to stroke or spinal cord injury… This isn't good. How is he fighting like this? He can't use one arm, he shouldn't be out here."

Rock laughs a bit at that. "I said the same thing. Believe me, Dunban is more than capable of holding his own in a fight. I wouldn't have made it home if it weren't for him."

The look of defensiveness on the blond human's face quickly recedes as Rock explains, though he does say _something_ , which is good considering the condition he's in.

"Let's rest here for the night."


	5. Chapter 5: Makna Forest

Satorl Marsh - Rock

Meddy leans Dunban, Reyn, and Sharla onto the wall. They had woken up, but Meddy was unmoving in her orders to just stay down to recuperate. Sharla, though, declines, and offers to help treat the rest of the party, something Meddy absolutely forbids.

"You need to rest for now. We'll wait until morning before we head on, none of you are strong enough to keep going at the moment." She then turns to Mega Man. "I need to talk with you for a bit."

"What about?" He tilts his head in confusion.

"Just come on," she replies, and heads to the adulthood emblem. Rock follows, and as soon as they reach the center of the emblem, Meddy turns around.

"Dr Light said you had brought a human back with you that was severely damaged. Something happened…"

"What is it?"

"Something went wrong. Dr Light doesn't know what happened to him, but… He's dead."

Rock's face freezes. Dead? Could this mean he went too far in the attack?

No, it couldn't. The Zeroth Law would have allowed him to do so… But even so, he could have used that same judgement call to kill Dr Wily all those years ago…

He had been defeated yet again. Dr Wily bowed his head in submission.

"Okay, sorry for all the trouble, I'll go quietly…"

But Mega Man's eyes had lost the kindness they once had. He charged up his Mega Buster, preparing for the final strike. "I don't trust you, Wily. I gonna do what I should have done years ago!"

An expression of fear washed over Wily's face. "B-But you forget, Megaman! Robots cannot harm humans!"

Mega Man suddenly stopped charging. "I AM MORE THAN A ROBOT!" He yelled. "DIE, WILY!"

He was about to take the shot, when the castle started to crumble around the two. Dr Wily was covered in a pile of rubble, a single screw comedically bouncing off his head. An orange light beamed down, and a black robot with orange hair fins appeared. "Too late, Megaman!" He said. "He who hesitates is lost. We shall return!" The robot left with Wily almost as soon as he appeared, and Mega Man teleported out of the crumbling castle.

Days later, he had met with Dr Light.

"Doctor, I think I need to be deactivated."

The good doctor's face contorted in confusion. "What do you mean, Mega Man?"

"When I had defeated Wily, I… I nearly killed him. It wasn't an accident, I was about to shoot him right then and there. I don't know if I can be trusted with the task ahead of me, Dr Light. It'd be safer for humanity if I were deactivated."

The confusion faded away into sadness. "... Rock, I can't remove the Zeroth Law from your programming, but I'm not deactivating you."

"The.. The Zeroth Law? What's that?"

"The Zeroth Law states that if more humans would be harmed by not harming one, then a Robot can break the First Law. It was Asimov's way of dealing with the Trolley problem. If there was no way to prevent someone from dying, would you save Five people or One?"

"The five, but only if there's no way of saving the One as well."

"Exactly. The Zeroth law affects your judgement, even if you don't know of its existence. If I were to remove it, you couldn't make such a call."

"I had always thought that was just a loophole, like with the Emerald Spears attack at the convention."

"No, that's one of Asimov's laws, just as much as the others."

Mega Man sighed in relief. He could now see that he wasn't a threat to society at large, and with that, he left to go talk with his brothers.

"Mega Man? Mega Man!" Meddy snaps in his face, bringing him out of the flashback.

"O-oh, yeah?" He asks.

"The black haired human called for you. You ok?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replies. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No, just that he needed to talk with you."

Rock nods, and heads back to the statue. Dunban stands there while the rest of the group sleeps. "Reyn had mentioned that you found a way through to Makna Forest. Where is it?"

"It's at the top of the Sororal Statues. There's a small pathway. The elevator seems to go right to the top, so I'd suggest we take that option."

Dunban simply nods. "Got it. We'll do that in the morning. I'll keep watch here. You and your companion should spread out. There aren't any Ether Lamps to protect the group from monsters, and none of us are fighting fit except you two. We need you now more than ever."

Mega Man nods, and heads off to meet up with Meddy once again.

Satorl Marsh - Meddy

Rock had spent the last hour or so filling in Meddy on the details of their adventure.

"Top Man may be in one of these Face Units, so we can't destroy them completely. Not to mention there are still humans in them as well. It'll be just like taking down Robot Masters. Incapacitate them, but don't kill them. Alright?"

Meddy silently nods. (All this seems… wrong. Desecrating the dead to fill a purpose… who does that?)

After a fair bit of deliberating, she decides to ask Rock. "Rock, er, Mega Man…"

"You're my sister, Meddy. Rock is fine."

"Right. But anyway! Have we found out who exactly is doing this? Who's using human corpses to pilot their drones?"

"We have. His name is Egil. Xord had given me the coordinates to his base back in Colony 6. Said that he'd explain everything."

"Do you still have those coordinates?"

"04o, 67', 34" North, 12o, 5', 23" West," he replies. "Wait. Are y-" But before he can finish the sentence, Meddy beams out.

Agniritha, The Mechonis Capital - Meddy

Meddy beams into the room. It's pitch dark, though that doesn't bother her. She can see just fine. By all accounts, the room is devoid of life, human or otherwise. All that's there are large suits of armor. She approaches one, and opens the faceplate. Empty. She closes it back, and leaves the room to explore the capital.

The first thing she sees is a large orange-white set of the same armor she had just opened. She yelps, and the figure turns around. "Who are you?" it asks. "State your business in Agniritha."

"DLN 089 Meddy," she replies, almost out of a need to say it when asked. "I'm here to find a man named Egil."

"DLN? You're Dr Light's newest robot?" The armored figure asks. Without warning, the face plate opens up, and the armor drops to the ground, and a similarly colored robot rolls out of the armor. "DLWN 021, Top Man."

"Pleasure to meet you, Top Man." She gives a bit of a bow. "So… Where's Egil?"

"I don't know. I was about to be sent to Alcamoth when you showed up. I thought you were one of the Homs."

"Yes, speaking of that… What the Yellow Devil are you thinking!? Has the First Law somehow just slipped through your programming or something!?"

"I'll be honest, I haven't been able to get the whole story, but from what I've heard, Egil is trying to get the Monado. It houses something he despises, possibly even fears. I don't know what, but it's imperative that we retrieve it and destroy it. Only then can the war end."

Meddy stands silent. The Monado? That makes no sense to her. What is that?

In any case, she's gotten the intel she needs. "... Very well. I don't know when you'll see me next, but Rock will be there as well. He's to get you back to Earth."

"Rock's here, too? Perfect! I'll see you then, Meddy."

Meddy nods, and teleports back to the Marsh.

Satorl Marsh - Mega Man

Rock just… stood there. He would go after her, but he's the group's last line of defence, he can't just leave them!

He checks to see if he can see the sun. It barely peeks over the cliffs around them. Perfect, he can wake up the others. He makes a mad dash to the cliffside (with more than a single use of Charge Kick on the way), and gets Dunban to his feet.

"You guys need to get up there," he starts, "and Meddy's yet to return. What's your call?"

"What do you mean she's yet to return?"

"I mean she went to Agniritha."

Dunban almost recoils in shock. "Agniritha!? Why on Bionis would she go there!?"

"She's trying to get answers. Why the Mechon are attacking, why they're using humans to pilot their machines, anything she can find out. I accidentally gave her the coordinates, and she left before I could get her to think."

Almost immediately after he says this, a purple light beams down next to Rock. "I'm back," Meddy states. "And I know their next target, a town called 'Alcamoth.' Maybe you know where it is?"

Dunban shakes his head. "I've never heard of the place. That's more Dickson's line of expertise. But even then, we should possibly warn someone of that… Perhaps they could prevent what happened to the Colonies."

"That's exactly what I was thinking. And what's more," she begins. "I found Top Man. He's in one of the Face Units as well. Orange and White, so it should be easily spotted. Now, I think the rest of them have had enough rest. Let's press on, shall we?"

Satorl Marsh - Meddy

"To think that Top Man has sided with the Mechon of all beings!" She says, to no one in particular. "Sure, we share heritage as robots, but siding with them is a direct violation of the first law, he shouldn't have been able to make that decision without his programming going haywire."

Her short ranting is overheard by just about the entire party, and Shulk's curiosity is piqued. "You and Rock seem to mention this 'First Law' quite a lot. What is it?"

Meddy turns to face the blond one. "Oh, it's the most important of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. A Robot cannot harm a human, or through inaction, cause a human to come into harm."

"Of course," Rock adds, "If there was one human that was going to hurt more if the Robot didn't act, the law is null and void. The second states that a Robot has to follow commands set by a human, so long as it doesn't conflict with the First Law."

"I see…" Shulk nods. "And the Third?"

"A Robot must protect its own existence, so long as it doesn't conflict with the First Law," Meddy finishes. "Really straightforward, to avoid loopholes being found and exploited. They're standard in every robot created to this day."

"So," Reyn starts. "If I were to say something like "go punch that wall over there," either a' you would have to do it?"

"Actually, no." Rock shakes his head. "The Second Law nowadays is only used in relation to the creator of the robot, or the reprogrammer. So I would only have to follow an order set by Dr Light, or if Dr Wily had reprogrammed me, I'd only accept orders from him."

Reyn simply nods, though he looks a tiny bit let down by that. A good pranking idea has just left him…

"Now let's get going. I've been in this Marsh long enough." Meddy takes her leave of the party, and heads toward the stairs leading to the Sororal Statues.

Upon reaching the furthest part of the statue's base, they see an elevator. Reyn exclaims in triumph as he goes to start it up.

Nothing.

"The Lift don't work," He says, a bit disappointed.

"How are we supposed to get up there, then?" Shulk asks, looking to the top of the statues.

"The way we've always done it," Dunban replies. Sharla immediately turns to him. "You don't mean climb all the way up there, do you?"

"We may have to…"

Reyn, meanwhile, has turned his disappointment into irritation. "Who makes a lift that don't work," he mutters, and starts for a wall, before Rock stops the group. "I have an idea. Wheel Cutter can climb up walls. I could just take all of you up there one at a time. It'd save on time."

Dunban considers it for a moment. He would rather avoid climbing the statues. "Very well, that would be best."

Rock nods, and changes color. "Dunban first, then Sharla, Shulk, and Reyn."

"I can take Shulk and Reyn up, you take Dunban and Sharla," Meddy offers, and Rock accepts. Meddy grabs Shulk and Reyn's arms, and teleports to the top of the statues. A few minutes later, Rock arrives with Dunban, and drops down to get Sharla.

"Dunban," Shulk starts. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What is it, Shulk?"

"Could… Could I keep the Monado a while longer? I know it's your sword, but I need it to complete my mission."

Dunban stands, a bit surprised at Shulk's question. "You don't need to ask me. The Monado is yours now. You wield it better than I ever have. Besides, I've got a new sword. Slim, sharp, perfect for slicing through steel."

Shulk simply nods. "... Thank you, Dunban."

Meddy tilts her head a bit. So Shulk's sword is The Monado… But why would Egil be hunting it… What could it house?

She starts to pull Shulk aside, but before she can, Rock comes back up with Sharla. "Alright, let's get going!" He smiles, and the group enters the cave before them

Bionis Interior - Shulk

Something about this place… unsettled Shulk. He couldn't place his finger on it - Well, that was a lie. He knew exactly what was messing with his mind - but he simply dismissed it as paranoia.

"Is something the matter, Shulk?" Dunban asks.

"N-No, nothing, it's just… It feels like the Bionis isn't actually dead…"

"Whoa, hold on there!" Reyn exclaims. "If the Bionis starts movin' all of a sudden, it'll be bad for us Homs!"

Shulk nods silently, and the group continues onward.

One thing that everyone had noticed almost immediately is that… nothing seemed to live in here. It seemed as though the Third Lung was completely abandoned. The only thing inside there of note was a large geyser of yellow liquid. But still, everything seemed… alive.

Rock, Meddy, and Reyn waded into the liquid, and the rest of the party soon followed. Almost immediately, they were shot up into the air by the geyser, landing on a higher platform. Meddy and Rock landed first, catching the four Homs behind them. "Alright, onto the next area!" Rock exclaims.

Makna Path - Shulk

The group steps through the opening in the Bionis, and finally sees green. The first thing they notice about Makna Forest is that it's extremely hot.

"Who turned up the heat," Reyn says.

"I've never seen such a dense forest…" Sharla comments.

"Me neither! How much further?"

"This must be the back of the Bionis," Dunban begins. "If Shulk's vision is right, we've still got a ways to go."

"You mean go on in this heat?" Reyn complains. "I'm sweatier than a Brog's armpit!"

"We'll have to search for the best route," Rock says.

"Until then, we'll have to put up with Reyn's stench." Sharla laughs a bit at her own comment. Meanwhile, Shulk stares into a large waterfall overlooking a bridge. His eyes glow blue, and another Vision comes into view.

"We must be outside the tower…"

This one again. What does it mean…

The figure of a giant figure in chains appears. "Welcome, true Heir to the Monado…"

A winged girl hugs an elderly winged man.

Metal Face…

Shulk holds the Monado upright. The blade of light is much larger than it usually is…

"You will know the suffering you caused the Emperor and Fiora!"

Before the blade can hit Metal Face, a silver Faced Mechon leaps in front, and the blade pierces its outer casing. Something is visible inside, but the vision ends too quickly to make it out.

"A silver Faced Mechon… and who was that girl?" He thinks to himself. "These visions keep showing me people and places I've never seen…"

Sharla's comment draws him out of his monologue. "Look, over there! A rope bridge!"

She points to the distance, to the waterfall Shulk had stared at. "Maybe it's Homs made?"

"Not Homs," Dunban starts, shaking his head. "Nopon. While there are a lot of them in the Colonies, they're native to Makna Forest. Our best bet would be to look for their village."

Shulk simply nods, and the group press on.

Makna Forest - Meddy

This place was amazing!

There's so much plant life, not to mention animals! Those large frog creatures, what looked to be Velociraptors infused with electricity and fire, all of it! This world was simply enchanting! She takes another look around, taking in the beautiful scenery, when she spots something. Something out of place. A pair of white wings sticking up on the ground. She approaches, thinking it may have been a fallen dove. But when she gets closer, she suddenly jumps back in surprise. "Sharla! I need your help here!" She calls to the group, and the rest of them come rushing, Sharla at the head of the pack. She kneels down as soon as she reaches Meddy, and the seemingly lifeless body beside her.

Meddy gets to work almost instantly, checking for a pulse. "She's got one," she says. "It's weak, but it's still going. No fever, and no sign of physical injury. I'm running a scan now." She grabs both hands of the body, and closes her eyes. After three minutes, she lets go. "This makes… no sense whatsoever. According to the scan, she's the picture of health."

"That scanner of yours doesn't check for Ether Deficiency, does it?" Sharla asks, to which Meddy shakes her head. "I've never heard of such a thing, what is it?"

"All life on the Bionis runs on an energy called Ether. Without any Ether, you can't survive, it's as necessary as air."

Meddy simply nods. "I see. So you're saying she's run out of it?"

"Not out, but she's dangerously low. I can fix it, but I need some pure quality Ether Crystals. They have to be perfect, though. They can't be too weak."

"There was a waterfall on our way here," Shulk suggests. "Would Ether Crystals under a waterfall work?"

"Yes, those would be perfect." Sharla nods, and Shulk prepares to go, before Reyn stops him. "You're not goin' alone, are ya?"

"Yes, Reyn. I need you to protect the group."

"I could do that," Rock says. "You and Reyn go to get the Crystals."

"See? Rock's with me on this one!"

Shulk simply shrugs. "Alright. Let's get going. We'll be back in a bit with the Crystals."

"Stay safe!" Meddy calls back. "I don't want to have to cart you back here, alright?"

"Don't worry! You won't!"

Makna Forest - Shulk

The forest was a tangled mess of pathways while backtracking. Reyn had already tripped on three separate vines, and he looked to be starting on a fourth one. But Shulk had other things on his mind. That girl, for one. "Reyn, I think I've seen that girl before."

"Another vision?" Reyn asks.

"Yes, the same one when we were atop Prison Island. She was with us, fighting Metal Face."

"In that case, I like the sound of this girl." Reyn laughs. "Now where was that waterfall you were talking about?"

"Just ahead, this way." Shulk takes the lead, and they reach the bridge. Reyn looks downward. "Well, should we jump?" He asks, but Shulk shakes his head. "There's a path not too far from here, it'd be safer to just go down that."

The duo eventually reach the bottom, and Shulk finds a small collection of Ether Crystals. "These look like the right quality."

"Let's just hope Sharla thinks the same way," Reyn says.

"Here, go ahead and take these back, I'll be right behind you." He hands Reyn the crystals, and the other heads back up the slope. Shulk begins to follow, but he stops suddenly. He hears rustling. He turns around, and in front of him stands a Homs. They approach rather quickly. "How unusual. It's rare to see a Homs in this region," he says. Shulk is about to ask him what he's doing here, before the man answers without being asked. "I suppose you are wondering why I am here, in that case," he begins. "Then permit me to introduce myself. My name is Alvis."

"Alvis? Um… my name's-"

"It's Shulk, isn't it? Wielder of the Monado, defender of Colony 9, the hero who has every Mechon running. You're famous amongst all Homs."

Shulk says nothing in reply, astounded that his reputation has spread this far. Alvis looks to the sky as a cry is heard, animal in nature.

"They're here!"

"'They?' Who are they?" Shulk tries to get Alvis' attention, but he continues on as if Shulk had never spoken.

"The Monado emits a particular ether wavelength at its ground state, it must have drawn them in."

A monstrous beast swoops in and attempts to grab one of the Homs, but Shulk ducks out of the way just in time. "Alvis! Out of the way, I'll deal with them!"

He activates the Monado, and charges forward. Halfway to the Telethia, the Monado shows him how the Telethia is going to attack. "To the left? Then I'll go…" He starts to dodge to the right, but the Telethia is too quick for him, changing its attack to knock Shulk off its feet. It pushes him against a wall, and he drops the Monado. "How!" He cries out. "The Monado showed me how it would attack, how did it…"

"They are Telethia…"

"Telethia?"

"They can read your mind. Whether you have a vision or not, if they know your next move then it's all in vain."

Shulk picks himself up off the ground, bewildered. "How did you-"

Before he finishes, Alvis picks up the Monado, and rushes the Telethia. Shulk cries out a warning, but just as before, Alvis doesn't listen. But oddly enough, he's wielding it quite well. He gets in a few slashes, before a symbol appears, a light green. It's not one he's seen before. Alvis swings the blade, and a green aura leaves it. He then leaps up to cut the Telethia's antenna before finishing it off, where it explodes in a green light. Shulk can't help but stare incredulously. "That was amazing!"

"I suggest you stop staring, Shulk." He tosses the blond one the Monado. "The sword is yours to wield. It does not control itself, you control it."

A few more Telethia come down from above as Shulk activates the Monado once again. "By the Light of the Monado, I will stop them."

The battle, if you could call it that, was little more than an execution. The combined might of Alvis and Shulk was simply too much for the Telethia. Alvis nods to his comrade. "You see, Shulk?"

"Thank you. But more importantly, Where on Bionis did you learn to use the Monado!" He rushes up to the other, stars in his eyes like an excited child. Alvis simply laughs distractedly. "They were not the primary Telethia, only its spawn. The Primary Telethia dwells elsewhere in Makna Forest. Is it… Wounded? I see… Wounded by a girl…"

"A girl?" He asks. "Perhaps it's the girl we found in the Forest…"

Alvis grabs the hilt of the Monado. "The Monado is a divine sword capable of disturbing the very fabric of existence, of both the material and immaterial."

He takes his leave after saying this, leaving Shulk to wonder how he knows so much of this sword. But he can't worry about that, he's got to meet up with the rest of the group.

Makna Forest - Mega Man

Most of the group had wanted to search for the duo, but Mega Man wasn't allowing that. "This is Shulk and Reyn we're talking about. They're strong enough to make it back. They may just be taking a while to get there."

"We're back!" A voice calls from within the forest. "And we have the crystals!"

Sharla's face lights up. "Perfect! Give them to me, I'll prepare the rounds."

"Wait!" Meddy says, incredulous. "You're not going to shoot her, are you?!"

"No, I'm going to fire into the air, and let her body absorb the ether."

She seems a bit uneasy by this, but she accepts the answer, and steps back. Sharla aims into the sky, and fires three rounds, and steps back. It takes a few minutes, but the girl's body starts to move. Shulk kneels down next to her as she opens her eyes. "Wh… Where am I?" She asks.

"Everything's fine," Shulk replies, resting a hand on her. "You're going to be…"

And then she slaps him.

"Get your hands off me!"

He reels back as she pushes herself up. Reyn immediately turns hostile toward the woman, who, now seeing the entire group, calms herself down a bit. "Forgive me, I did not mean to…"

"Sorry if I surprised you," Shulk replies.

"Are you the ones who helped me?"

"Well, something like that."

She brushes herself off, taking up her staff. "Excuse me. My name is Melia. Forgive my indiscretion, I haven't had the pleasure of coming into contact with a male Homs."

This earns a hearty chuckle from Dunban. "Coming into contact?"

Reyn joins in as well. "Hey, Shulk. You're creeping this lady out."

"This large one is far worse," she replies, earning a confused look from Reyn as the rest of the group joins in the laughter. Sharla then turns to the girl. "Melia, you said? Why is no one with you?"

"I must apologize, but my situation does not concern you. I will not be divulging any information to passers-by."

"I can respect that decision," Dunban replies. "But I can tell you weren't simply taking an afternoon nap."

Melia returns this comment with a glare. "And what, might I ask, are you lot doing here? It's rare for Homs to venture this deep into Makna Forest."

"We're heading to the Bionis' Head," Shulk answers. "We've got a long journey ahead of us."

"The Bionis' Head?" Melia can hardly believe this. They're certainly an ambitious group, that's for sure. "I see. Then allow me to be your guide. We can rest in the Nopon village, it's not too far from here."

"The Nopon Village? That's where we were heading! We wager it's the best place to reach the Head."

"You should make way for Eryth Sea. If you would be so kind to escort me out of the forest, I will show you the way."

"We'd be pleased to," Shulk nods. "I'm Shulk. Pleased to meet you."

"Ah yes. Likewise."

Melia starts off through the path, leaving the rest of the party behind. Sharla leans over to Reyn. "She acts all high and mighty, but she's a Homs too, right? So what was she doing here?"

"Beats me. I'm no good with her Posh accent."

The rest of the group simply follows along, save for Mega Man and Meddy. "You had said something about the Monado, what's up with it?" Rock asks. Meddy looks a bit uneasy, but she answers anyway. "Egil is looking for it."

Rock freezes. Something made sense about that. It seemed to be the enemy of technology, after all. It'd make sense they want to get rid of their greatest threat.

But still, why JUST the Monado? Dunban's sword is made to cut through Mechon armor, why not hunt those as well?

He looks forward. The party was leaving them behind. "Let's get going, we'll talk to Shulk about this later."

"Roger that." Meddy nods, and the two rejoin the rest of the group.


	6. Chapter 6: The Great Heropon

_Nopon Village - Meddy_

Meddy was still troubled by the news Top Man had given her. The Monado… it's the Homs' only hope to survive, isn't it? Does Egil truly want to wipe out an entire race? Several races? These fuzzy spherical creatures - Nopon, right? They're just as sentient as the Homs.

She's so lost in thought she doesn't notice the Nopon child nibbling on her finger.

"...Meddy!" Rock snaps his fingers in her face, breaking her train of thought.

"O-oh!" She stumbles back a bit, and the Nopon child runs back into the large tree before them. "What is it?"

"We've gotta meet with the Nopon chief. All of us. The rest of the group's already inside, I waited out here for you." He leans back on the outside of the tree making up their village. "You seemed pretty distracted. What's up?"

"It's what Top Man had said, how Egil's wanting the Monado. He's slaughtering Homs left and right, and he's been close to getting it before. What would he do if he _did_ get it? What's his goal with the sword, and how would Top Man be persuaded to _join_ him? I've just got so many questions, and I can't get answers to _any_ of them."

Rock simply sighs, getting up and resting a hand on her shoulder. "I wish I could answer. But Top Man's been one to make rash decisions, so we can't trust he's making the right one. And from what we've seen, it seems like he's in the wrong. Now come on." He promptly turns around, motioning for Meddy to follow. "We've got to get moving. Shulk's at the top of the building with Melia, the other three are heading that way now."

 _Nopon Village - Shulk_

Something had been eating at Melia. He could tell just from looking at her.

"Melia," He begins. "You're welcome to come with us."

Melia, however, doesn't respond, simply hanging her head low as Shulk presses on. "Is it true? Were you alone in the forest?"

"That thing must be stopped by my hand," she replies. "It is my pledge to those who had died."

All of a sudden, Shulk hears a voice in his head. Alvis. Didn't he say something about the Telethia…? Wounded…

By a girl!

"Wounded by a girl… You don't mean you're going to fight the Telethia!?"

This gets Melia's attention! She turns to Shulk with a shocked look on her face. "How do you know of the Telethia!?"

"When I went to collect the Ether Crystals, some Telethia attacked me. I managed to destroy them and get away."

"You defeated Telethia? Wh-Who are you?"

Shulk explains his connections with the Monado, and the battle with the Telethia (although he's sure to omit Alvis. With how Reyn reacted, he's sure she wouldn't believe him).

"The Monado… so that sword can…" Melia seems almost in awe of the sword's potential, but Shulk's quick to reply.

"To tell the truth, they were only the Telethia's spawn. Someone told me that the primary Telethia is healing somewhere in the forest." With that out of the way, he can finally press on. "It was you, wasn't it? You hurt the Telethia."

"... The Telethia escaped from our homeland, and I am tasked with killing it. It cannot remain free. For the sake of my people, and the Nopon, it must be stopped."

"Melia… We can help you defeat it, if you'd like."

"Out of pity?"

"No!"

"Then what?"

"It's just… I… I want…"

"Speak, Shulk, or I will be forced to summon the Nopon Chief to interpret for me."

"I would like to help."

"What could you possibly gain from helping me?"

Shulk sighs a bit before explaining. "I saw it. On top of a black tower, you and I were fighting together, against that faced Mechon. I also saw you fighting a huge Telethia."

Melia scoffs a bit, incredulously. However, Reyn approaches the Balcony with the rest of the party as she does so, so the scoff is simply met with a chuckle. "It threw me the first time 'n' all."

"Forgive me, Shulk, but what _are_ you talking about?"

With Shulk speechless, Reyn decides to explain. "Shulk can see visions of the future."

This time, it's Melia's turn to laugh. "Visions of the future? And you expect me to believe this rubbish?"

"Believe what you want, lady," he replies, giving a look to Sharla. "That's what I tell all the non-believers."  
"That'd be me, then." Sharla

In any case, the only reason we got so far was because of Shulk's visions. If Shulk says he saw you in a vision, you're important to whatever happens next. And if you're tough enough to fight a Faced Mechon, you're alright in my book."

Dunban smirks, nodding in response. "You've got my vote. A lady shouldn't go into the battlefield unaccompanied."

"Excuse me!" Melia huffs. "I am quite capable of dispatching this beast alone. I do not require help of any kind!"

"My dear!" The Nopon Chief, Dunga, joins the conversation, much to Melia's dismay. "I apologise, but I could not help overhearing. Their offer sounds quite reasonable. The danger extends much further than our small dwelling. Makna itself is at risk. And we shall provide you with the finest warrior of our clan."

"Chief Dunga, I…" Melia begins to protest, but the chief cuts her off.

"No need for thanks, my dear. He is the equal, if not the better, of the Hom Hom!"

"You _do_ know we're listening, right?" Reyn laughs.

"The chosen Nopon Hero will await you below. I shall go ahead and prepare him, if you will excuse me."

"A Nopon hero?" Reyn scoffs. "This I _have_ to see!"

This is met with Shulk brushing his arm. "Don't be like that, let's give him a chance."

"Are you sure about that, Shulk?" Meddy asks. "From what I've seen, these creatures aren't exactly fighters."

The Homs simply nods as they head down to the base of the tree, where Chief Dunga awaits.

"May I present, this year's Legendary Heropon, Riki!"

A ball of fur leaps down from the top of the village, falling squarely on Reyn's face, bouncing onto Melia's arms as she bounces him back up like a volleyball. Shulk follow suit, but as Reyn wipes his face of Nopon fur, he jumps into the air, preparing to spike the Heropon.

Unfortunately for him, Meddy grabs him out of the air, putting her arms around him like one would a stuffed animal. The momentum of Reyn's spike carries him forward, and he falls off the edge of the platform into the water below, earning an eruption of laughter from the Nopon crowd. He pulls himself back onto the platform, shaking his head violently to get the water out as Meddy sets their new friend down.

"New Hom Hom Friends!" he cries. "Meet this year's Legendary Heropon, Riki! Riki live to serve!"

"A Nopon hero, you say?" Dunban mutters. "Not sure where you'll come in handy, but the more, the merrier. Now, Shulk. Are these Telethia really as dangerous as you say?"

"Yes, they're lightning quick, and they can read your mind!"

"A mind reading giant bird?" He puts a hand to his chin. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"I can see their movements with the Monado, but even that's not enough to get the better of them."  
"And we're going against the daddy version. No one blink for a second."

 _Nopon Village - Melia_

Chief Dunga was kind enough to give the group lodging for the night, so they would be well rested for the battle ahead. Rock and Meddy, however, stayed up overnight to keep watch, as well as see where exactly the Telethia went. Melia, however, gratefully went to sleep, almost immediately after they were shown to their beds, with Riki joining her, hopping into her arms like a teddy bear.

Midnight passes, but Melia is woken up suddenly by something on her side. She pushes herself up, but she can't see anything in the darkness. She moves one of her hands away from Riki, and places it on where she feels the pressure. Almost immediately, she takes her hand back. That is most definitely a Homs hand! She attempts to whack it away with her arm, but when her arm makes contact with the Homs, she's filled with a jolt of pain, as if she had collided with metal. However, the hand moves away, and a feminine voice is heard in the darkness, eyes suddenly glowing. "Scan complete…" it says. "Now for the Nopon…"

"Excuse me, who are you!?" Melia exclaims, causing some of the others to stir in their sleep. The eyes suddenly look downward to Melia. "Oh! Hey, Melia. It's me, Meddy."

"What were you _doing_!? You scared the life out of me!"

Meddy simply giggles. "I wouldn't say that, you're still alive, aren't you? That's what the scans show, anyway."

"Scans…?"

"I'm a medical assistance robot, I'm here to help Sharla heal you all when you're down. But I didn't come programmed with Nopon and your biology. So I scanned you while you were asleep. It'd be horrible if we messed up on a medicinal treatment that your body may reject." Her fingertips glow, and a small hologram of a skeleton appears in her palm. "Your body structure is different from the Homs, it seems. I don't think that's a genetic defect. I've never even seen your race on the Bionis until now, what species are you?"

Melia can hardly believe her eyes. She hadn't heard much of Meddy, she seemed to be in her own little world most of the time. This had come completely out of left field. She had almost missed the question, but she snaps back into the swing of things. "Oh, um… High Entia."

"Alright, thank you." Meddy closes her eyes for a second, before opening them back up. "Now, if you could pass me Riki?"

Melia pushes herself into a sitting position, letting Meddy lay a hand on Riki's head. After a few minutes, the scan is complete. "And there. And now we're done. Have a nice night!"

And with that, she leaves just as quickly as she came, leaving Melia to wonder just what is going on in her head…


End file.
